The Orphans of Root
by chimmon
Summary: Danzo has a mission that requires a member of Root that is younger than ever before.  The latest class of potential Root candidates is ten orphans.  They will undergo ninja and emotional training, but will any be ready in time?
1. Prologue: Danzo's Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Black Bear walked through the underground tunnel of Root's main headquarters. Red Cat and Blue Monkey were on guard. After his hand signs that indicated he was a member of Root and their responding signs to confirm that they weren't imposters, Black Bear was granted access. This process was repeated twice more as he made his way to the central chamber for his weekly briefing with their leader Danzo. Danzo gave out every assignment personally or through a delegate - who was identified to the Root member by Danzo in person. Scrolls or other documentation was a foolish risk to take. The patriarch of their organization sat on his chair in the center of room awaiting Black Bear's presence. Danzo's right eye was hidden by the bandages wrapping his head and his left eye was closed as always. He gave no indication that he had noticed Bear's presence as the jonin keeled before him. Black Bear knew that this wasn't the case; Danzo had been aware of him long before he had entered the room. Black Bear wasn't specialized in stealth, but as a member of Root and an Anbu operative his ability to move without giving any indication of himself was well refined. Still, it would be foolish to think that someone of Danzo's caliber could be taken unaware.<p>

After Black Bear had been kneeling for a minute - long enough for any potential spies or followers to get close enough to be noticed, Danzo spoke. The jonin listened to the mission that the leader of Root gave him.

For the assignment he would have the name 'Yagi'. The first part of his mission was the training of 10 children to potentially become members of root. Black Bear had done such training several times in the past, this time he had a time limit of 3 years and the children would start at age 5 or 6. This was much less time than was normal. Danzo must have a method for dealing with a child with such a limited amount of emotional tempering.

Black Bear was confident in his ability to produce a child meeting the requirements for the second part of the mission. It would be a simple matter of weeding out the unqualified children. All in all that would be a far more simple task than their emotional training.

Yagi stood and removed the bear mask from his face and bowed to Danzo. In less than 15 minutes he had packed his possessions, changed out from the Anbu uniform and was out of Root headquarters heading towards the south-eastern training orphanage. All Anbu wore the same uniform, which only varied by their mask. No member of Anbu was supposed to know who another member was out of uniform (not that this stopped some familiarity). Now that Yagi was on a special assignment he could wear something more unique. Yagi's personal preference of clothing was dark blue with metal shoulder and shin guards. These strategic pieces of armor had saved his life multiple times as they provided a way to block attacks that got past his sword. Unfortunately the shoulder guards were too bulky to wear under his Anbu robes. He always felt vulnerable without his armor's protection.

In addition to the standard Root tip-less tanto Yagi had Steam: a great sword nearly 4 feet long and 1/2 a foot wide across his back. This was the other part of his equipment he missed while he was in the Anbu. His chakara sword could channel his water and fire attacks, greatly enhancing his prowess in a fight. Usually he kept Steam in a storage scroll, ready to be summoned if a fight required it. Knowing he could call upon it was different from the security of having the strangely cold weapon within reach.

The Mist-style sword taijutsu that he had mastered several years ago would finally be put to use. While Yagi couldn't feel pride about anything, he did marvel at how Danzo had orchestrated him having the knowledge in the first place. He had never thought that the purpose of him learning it was anything more than Danzo trying to make him a better ninja and allowing other members of Root to practice against a different village's style.

As he made his way to the training facility he felt a twinge of...something. Yagi remembered the emotional training he went through as a child. He had been trained and had trained several other children at the facility he was now heading towards. He knew that it was necessary, emotions lead to hate which lead to more fighting in a never-ending cycle. The training stops that cycle, but it wasn't something that he was looking forward to teaching again. However, he was Root; he supported the village from the darkness. This was for the sake of everyone.


	2. Chapter 1: Orphans

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>The house, or orphanage as the adults called it, was a great place! There was food, clothes, a warm place to sleep, lots of other boys his age, and they didn't keep him in a cage. All of these were massive improvements over his last home. They had even given him a name - Nine, which wasn't much of a name. His brothers had received the names Seven and Eight so at least it was consistent.<p>

Nine hoped he never had to leave the orphanage and go back to the other place - the place where he lived in a cell with his brothers. The place where you never knew when the bad man would come and want to "test" his progress. The place where if you cried it just made the monsters in the other cells angry. The masked people who had taken him and his brothers away hadn't said anything except 'Stay silent'. There had been other masked men at the orphanage when they had arrived after days of being carried. They hadn't said a single word to each other in the hours that Nine had been there. In fact the only time that the two adults who had taken him and his brothers had spoken was when they told Seven, Eight, and Nine what their new names were. None of the masked people even looked when the other children cried, complained they were hungry, or got into fights. Nine thought that it would be strange for them to take them and then let them starve. Even the bad man kept them fed.

He and his brothers were with several other boys his age now. Some of them looked like they wanted to cry though. Nine couldn't conceive why. Seven was walking over to them - probably to comfort them, his big brother was always trying to protect him and Eight. Before he got there, the door opened and a tall man with short black hair and gray eyes walked in. He had a sword bigger than Nine was on his back, and he moved without making any noise, just like the bad man. The man with the sword looked over them. When Nine caught his gaze he didn't see the curiosity or glee that had always been in the bad man's eyes, rather the gray eyes that met his seemed to be strangely devoid of anything. Some children hid, but Nine didn't want the gray eyed man to be angry at him - so he stayed still. If he got angry he might make him leave and go back to the other place.

The man introduced himself as 'Yagi' and told them that they were now part of something called 'Root'. As long as they did what he told them everything would be fine. Yagi then said that they all could go outside and play and that food would be ready in an hour. After they had gone outside, the masked adults left in groups of 2 or 3. Nine noted that while 7 adults were in the room, 8 left. Did that mean he missed one in the house? Could he have missed others? Then the pine-cone came at him, and it was his turn to hit it back. A smile crept to his mouth as he saw Eight not paying attention to the game. The sound of the pine-cone bouncing off his brother's head made most of the children laugh.

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><p>Three liked his new name. It was much less arbitrary than Yohana. The new house was nice too. There were a lot more children running around than in his old one, but the adults were better. No one had told him where he was being taken or why, but that was to be expected. If you're bought you should do what your told, so Three would watch and wait.<p>

His parent's hadn't asked him if he wanted to go with the mysterious man that had showed up at their door two days ago. The amount of Ryo that the man had paid for Three was impressive. He was worth more than his mother or father had made in their entire lives. Well, they HAD made him, so that wasn't the most accurate statement.

The other children were starting a game, it didn't seem to have any rules or structure to it. Three knew that he should join them. His parents had complained when he didn't play with the children in his old village. It was best to get along with everyone else.

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><p>After being briefed on the specifics of each child, Yagi went outside to watch them play. There were two that stood off to the side. He went over to the most outspoken of the children and asked him if he could go and get Two and Six to join the rest of the kids. Seven quickly ran over to them and within minutes all the new recruits were playing a game they just made up with tree branches and pine-cones. Yagi nodded, it would not do to have any of the children being outcasts. The first step of the emotional training was forming bonds with each other after all.<p>

The next order of business was cooking them dinner. With the children now occupied with their game, Yagi went to the kitchen and began preparing the stew that everyone would have for their meal. Twice he had to tell boys to get out of the kitchen and that the stew would be ready later. When it was finished and the children were worn out from running around, he called them in let them eat their fill. Several of them looked border-line starving, and all of them had varying levels of malnutrition. The Root jonin made sure each of them cleaned the plates and utensils when they were done. It would be a while until they were self-sufficient with regard to food, but this would set a good precedence.

While he was eating, Yagi though about what the Root agents that had found the different children had told him. For Danzo's plan only the ones with a bloodline trait would be applicable for the mission. Child Three had magnet release, a rare bloodline ability that was very hard to predict when it might show up. While other kekkei genkais stayed within a clan the ability to convert chakara into magnetic fields seemingly showed up almost at random. Number Six had scorch release - the ability to use chakara to evaporate all moisture. Seven, Eight, and Nine all had an ability that was seemingly unique. Their skeletons were made of metal. They had been experimental subjects of Orochimaru who must have done some experimenting with the bone abilities of the Kaguya clan. Root had received reports that the Kaguya had been wiped out when they attacked the Village Hidden in the Mist. One could never be sure with the snake sanin though, it wouldn't be out of the question for Orochimaru to have gone grave robbing or to have kidnapped a member of the clan beforehand.

Three was probably the best choice for Danzo's plan. An ability like that could easily be "accidentally" activated in front of other people. The randomness of it's occurrences would also add some believability to the story Danzo wanted the Hidden Leaf to be told. If one of these children was to be accepted into the Hidden Leaf's academy the story would have to be able to hold up under questioning. The bloodline trait, which the Hidden Leaf valued, unlike the Hidden Mist, would make it so the people asking the questions would want to believe the story. That was the key.

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><p>After they had finished eating Yagi had them line up outside. He then opened a scroll and several small bursts of smoke blew away to reveal ten tantos that had appeared in sheaths on the ground. Yagi told the potential future Root members to each take a sword and to never let it leave their side. If their sword was ever forgotten or misplaced there would be punishment. No one asked what the punishment would be, though Eight had some interesting ideas. They all revolved around the missing sword being used to inflict injuries to them. Nine shuddered at the thought until the logical part of his brain pointed out that any punishment involving a sword would permanently cripple them and since Root seemingly wanted them for something it wouldn't make sense for Root to do anything that might hinder that. Eight responded that whatever a sword could do would be healed. Nine stopped trying to out-reason Eight. Instead he decided he was just never going to lose his sword.<p>

They had the same routine every day. They would all wake up and Yagi would take them outside for a walk through the forest. Eventually the walks became runs. Seven and Eight seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the other children, and Nine stayed back with them for support. Following their run they would have breakfast, usually Yagi would catch fish and he seemed to be able to have plenty of time while running to pick up various plants for them to eat for the day. Between breakfast and lunch was taijutsu practice, both with their swords and unarmed. Striking each other with a drawn sword was strictly prohibited. If you did so, Yagi would strike you in the same way twice and treat your wounds after he treated the other child. Between lunch and dinner Yagi let them have time to play. The games ranged from board games they made up to exploring the woods or mock fights. The mock fights stopped when One accidentally cut Four. One's tears were a stern reminder of Yagi's policy on hitting each other with swords. After dinner - which was usually a stew that Yagi let cook during the day - there were classes. Every class started with all of them reciting "We are Root, we support the village from the darkness." Even though they were members of Root, and therefore members of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, most of their studying centered on the Village Hidden in the Mist.

It was after they had spent a month at the orphanage when Nine had accidentally cut Seven during their sword practice. He looked at the long bloody gash across his brother's arm and then at Yagi making his way towards them. In a panic Nine tried to run away from the approaching jonin. He made it almost three steps before Yagi suddenly appeared in front of him and knocked him down with a sweep of his legs. The following palm strike stunned Nine and two cuts quickly appeared on his left arm as his punishment was meted out. The punishment for trying to avoid your punishment was that you didn't receive any treatment.

Nine softly cried off to the side of field with some rags pressed against his arms. *His form was damaged, the damage was radiating from the cuts.* Despite the pain, a part of his mind was thinking back to when he was in the bad place. There had been days where he had been chained to a table and cut repeatedly. That was the first time he had...isolated...the damaged areas and kept them from effecting the rest of his body. Since he hadn't been punished for it, it was either an acceptable thing to do or the bad man hadn't noticed. Nine took a deep breath and tried to isolate the damage from the cuts. The pain rapidly diminished until it was gone. Tentatively, Nine poked his wounds - the area around the bleeding on his forearms was numb. When Yagi came over and complimented him on his self-control and started using his own chakara to bind the wound, Nine almost told him about his isolating the cuts. The thought that Yagi would see this as him avoiding his punishment won out in the end and Nine decided not to mention it.

Nine talked with his brothers, even though they had spent most of their lives together talking with them was relatively new. Talking in the bad place was not encouraged. They didn't seem to understand what he meant when he talked about isolating part of himself. Nine got the impression that none of the other children or his brothers could sense their own bodies. He had taken for granted that you could tell things like your heart was beating faster when it started. When he touched something he could notice the... impulse that went from that spot, through his body, until it reached his back and then traveled to his head. With some experimentation Nine found that he could isolate any part of his body and while it was still there he could no longer sense it, but he could still move it. Moving isolated parts of his body proved to be exhausting though. That night he tried experimenting with different areas. Isolating his eyes made him blind. He couldn't talk when isolating his tongue. His hand still moved, but felt clumsy w/out a sense of what was touching it. His last experiment was to isolate his heart. That didn't work very well. Removing the isolation it didn't cause his heart to start again. Out of desperation Nine tried focusing his chakara into his heart. Just as his vision was going dark he felt his blood start flowing again. Swearing to never do anything like that ever again, and remembering to thank Yagi for teaching them about chakara, Nine finally passed out.

It was an entire week later when Nine had the idea to isolate his legs during their morning run. His legs didn't feel particularly bad, and even though they were numb he could run as fast as his brothers. The problem was that only halfway through the run he became exhausted. Seven and Eight slowed down so he could keep up with them. Nine wondered if this was why Seven and Eight were so much slower than the rest of the children. He was going to have a long talk to them about it the next day, except that Yagi had a surprise for them that morning after they got back to the house. Every one of them was given a dog as a pet! With the same restrictions as their sword - don't let it leave your side and don't let it strike anyone. Nine found it funny - as if anyone could pry his dog away from him.

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><p>Three was enjoying life at the Root orphanage. Yagi was teaching him useful information, unlike his biological parents. The Root jonin was also very perceptive, Three had a very disarming smile and he knew how to use it, but Yagi ignored him and all of his attempts to ingratiate himself. Three would be able to learn more than just how to fight from Yagi. It was refreshing to find an adult who could see through the charade that most people willingly accepted.<p>

The other children had formed a click with Ten at it's center. Ten's desire for attention that was really pathetic, but easy to manipulate. Yagi kept a very tight leash on all his students, and it was chaffing Ten. The bully wanted to be praised for being at the top, especially if he was the one that had pushed everyone else down. Three was confident in his ability to get Ten to do whatever he wanted, but Yagi was already teaching him more than he'd ever imagined. Still one never knew when loyalty could be useful.

Two months had passed when Yagi gave them all a dog. It was true that a dog could be a very useful ninja tool. They had abilities that no human could match, and if trained well they would die for their master. Such training was going to be very tiring though. Three already had to get along with all the other children and now there were ten dogs to account for too! Yagi knew what he was doing. Three had every confidence in that.


	3. Chapter 2: Emotion Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>After the orphans got their dogs, Yagi started their self-sufficiency training. The first part involved them finding food for their new pets. There was no rule against the children feeding their dogs from their own meal portions, but this wasn't a viable solution since the growing boys needed to eat the food Yagi provided. Thus, their morning runs now included hunting and foraging. The dogs themselves were chosen for their friendly personalities and for their age. Puppies might bond easier with their new owners, but the amount that they would slow down the morning runs would be too much. In addition, the canines would also have to be able to fight, at least once.<p>

Classes were also extended into the time between lunch and dinner. The mid-day classes now mainly consisted of tests. If the children did well they were dismissed early. The presence of the dogs was designed to be a motivator for them to do well in their studies. Topics taught would now be expanded into anatomy and philosophy. By combining the introduction of Root's morality with the addition of their new best friends the boys would happier and more impressionable. Yagi had done this before, he knew that giving people multiple support columns made it so they would more tightly cling to the remaining shreds of what they considered important when that was all they had left. It was a shame he found the process slightly unnerving since he was so good at it. He had the boy's best interests in mind. It would be painful for them, but it was far better to experience such a thing once so that you never had to again.

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><p>Nine loved his dog, but couldn't decide on a name. Seven had already chosen a name for his black husky - 'Kyon'. Nine thought it an odd name. Since he didn't have very much experience with them, every name that wasn't 'Yagi' or a number sounded strange to him. Hunting was difficult. Seven and Eight were not very quick or stealthy, so the best the three of them could do was rob bird nests for their eggs. The look of absolute adoration from his new best friend made the effort worth it whenever he presented the dog with his share of eggs.<p>

Eight's dog wasn't as large as the other pets. It had mismatched eyes and Eight had named him 'Loser' of all things. Whatever name Nine finally gave his dog it was going to be miles better than that. Loser loved his new name though, and Eight's chuckling whenever he used it cheered up both Seven and Nine.

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><p>Three couldn't think of a name for his dog. A descriptive adjective would be more of a liability. If he called his dog 'Speedy' then enemy ninjas would know he was fast. A name that was the opposite of a trait he possessed might work, but that would still be providing some free intelligence to whoever heard his dog's name. It was better to have a name that was completely unrelated to anything.<p>

His name was 'Three', so his dog could be 'C'. Three liked the internal logic of that name. It was related to him, but since his name was completely arbitrary it couldn't provide any meaningful information. He would make C into a worthy tool for him.

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><p>Four months had passed since he and brought in the dogs. Yagi had been concentrating on the potential Root members taijutsu skills. Overall they were progressing nicely. Three, Five, and Nine were above the other child's taijutsu skills and general physical ability. While Nine had been doing poorly during the morning runs that was a mental restriction, not a physical one. Two, Seven, and Eight were at the bottom of the class. Two was as in as good of shape as the rest of the class now, he just didn't seem to have any aptitude with either the sword or his fists. Seven and Eight had horrible stamina. This was probably because of their unique genetics - they weighed 3 times what the other children did. With no endurance their combat skills quickly nosedived. Still, Yagi thought that in an actual fight their natural advantages would counter-act their weaknesses. After all, unbreakable bones and the strength to move them would allow them to crush an average opponent. Yagi puzzled over why Nine was so different from his physically similar 'brothers'. The boy had a large chakara reserve certainly, second highest in the class behind Six. Ninjas could use their chakara to augment their physical skills, but even if he had somehow learned such a technique on his own Yagi hadn't noticed Nine's chakara reserve diminishing during strenuous physical activity. That meant that either he wasn't using it to compensate for his weight, or that he was capable of regenerating his chakara as fast as he used it. Either way it was an impressive feat, and if he survived to the ninjutsu training Yagi could test which it was.<p>

Emotionally the children were bonding with him, the dogs, and each other quite nicely. The one hold out was Three. He smiled with the other children, laughed at the same things, played with his dog, and gave his friends encouraging remarks. Despite all of this Yagi could see through his mask. The subtle signs that he didn't really care about any of his colleagues were obvious if you didn't let his attempts at manipulating your emotions affect you. Indeed, if he was capable of maintaining that charade once the training was done he would make a great spy for Root. When Three had realized that his actions weren't producing the desired effect in his instructor he had stopped his attempts. The scary part was that Three had made this realization within the first week. Yagi just had to ensure his loyalty to Root, but he wasn't certain the normal indoctrination techniques would work.

Two more months. In two months all the boys would be physically strong enough for the next step, as would the dogs. With the notable exception of Three, two more months would see all of their emotional ties strengthened to the required amount. In two months they would all take their first steps towards becoming true members of Root.

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><p>It was watching Stone sleep that had given Nine the idea. Stone - his dog - had finally been named; both for the gray color of his fur and eyes as well as his disposition with regard to everyone else. Most of the other dogs were friendly to a fault, though One's pit bull was openly hostile to everyone except One. Stone however saved his affection for Nine. It made Stone special, and Nine felt happy that Stone had chosen him. When Stone slept his normal stoic appearance melted away. He made small barks and twitched his legs. Yagi told him that Stone was just dreaming and that it must be a very powerful dream for him to have such a noticeable response. Nine always remembered all of his dreams, but they never made sense. People would come and go and the 'facts' that he knew about them could change at a moment's notice. Nine's unique ability to monitor his own body's status didn't stop when he dreamed either. As a result he had never soiled his bed, not even when he was at the bad place - another point of pride for him. It was during his dreams that he noticed that some of the signals from his brain weren't reaching the rest of his body. Probably Stone's signals weren't blocked 100%, which meant that weak signals were reaching the rest of his body.<p>

After his nearly fatal experimentation with isolating his heart Nine had sworn off experimenting. Blocking signals was different from isolating parts of himself though. All the signals ran through his spinal cord - which he now knew the name of thanks to Yagi. His teacher had also told them about subconscious functions of their bodies. Nine had then experimented at night before he fell asleep with being able to discern the difference between the signals. Blocking the conscious signals should be fine since they came from the brain and he could just send a signal to unblock them. That was the difference between blocking and isolation he decided. Isolating a part of him resulted in all signals in that area to stop. Isolating his brain might be different since it generated its own signals... but Nine was in no hurry to try.

The night that he succeeded was scary at first, but quickly grew boring. Nine successfully identified all the subconscious signals that went to his body and that kept him alive, and he blocked everything else. His sense of his body suddenly became crystal clear. He could tell his brain was still working, but the signals that he sent out as a test didn't come from it. His skeleton was what was sensing everything, it was what was isolating, blocking, and now sending it's own signals. Nine didn't know how long he marveled at his discovery, but tedium quickly set in. His body was just doing the same things over and over and over again. Nine reached out to his eyes and made them open. A new subconscious signal began to come from his brain. When it got to his eyes they blinked. The signal was repeated every so often. With his eyes open, Nine began to see if he could move his muscles. The first attempt to bend his arm at the elbow caused a spasm that resulted in him on the floor and with several pairs of sleepy eyes looking on. Nine quickly stood up, bowed to his friends, and crawled back under his covers. It was only after he was back in bed and everyone else was back asleep that he realized that he hadn't sent any signals to his muscles and he had moved without their help when he had returned to bed.

Every night after his first try Nine experimented with signals. With his new awareness he could tell the difference between thoughts that came from this brain and those that came from his skeleton. Brain-Nine was a much faster thinker. It was constantly sending signals back and forth and could handle doing more than one thing at a time. Skeleton-Nine could only handle one concept at a time, but seemed to have the same ability to delegate an action like "walk over there" without having to send every signal to his muscles consciously. Skeleton-Nine could also move without using muscles, but it left him worn out after. Brain-Nine's outlook on things was colored by a vast quantity of signals that Nine's body fired off in response to almost everything. Seeing Stone made Brain-Nine have more positive thoughts. Falling from a tree while trying to catch a bird for Stone's lunch resulted in a much darker outlook by Brain-Nine. Skeleton-Nine's 'outside' point of view made noticing such things possible. Brain-Nine couldn't sense Skeleton-Nine, but both of them could remember his late night experiments and the dreams he had at the same time. The dreams that he remembered were very vague and Nine couldn't recall them like he could before his discovery.

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><p>Two weeks had passed. Yagi prepared the special last meal for the dogs and went over the genjutsu again in his mind. Illusions weren't hard to use on animals if you had some practice. Their minds were significantly weaker to outside manipulation than a human's. The dogs also had a rather small amount of chakara, so influencing it would be that much easier. The genjutsu had to be adapted to the particular animal though, only basic urges and concepts seemed to have an effect - other parts the animals just ignored. Yagi had perfected his special canine genjutsu years ago, but since he hadn't used it since the last class he wanted to be certain he performed it correctly.<p>

The food pills, made from a modification of the Nara Clan's recipe, had been ground up and added to the dog's breakfast. These particular pills had been modified so that upon digestion they would cause all the fat in the consumer's body to be converted into muscle mass at an astonishing rate. Once all the fat had been converted, the pills would begin to effect the subject's nervous system. In theory the effect could continue past that stage and convert other parts of the body. The second stage was 100% fatal though, so the theory remained just that.

After the boys and their dogs had finished eating, Yagi told them that today was going to be special. Today their dogs were going to learn to fight alongside them. Having learned enough about the major clans of the Hidden Leaf, specifically about the Inuzuka clan, the children were all excited. Yagi told them that the first step was to spar with their dogs. He made sure that every child still carried their swords out of habit. When everyone had paired off and were tentatively sparring, Yagi activated his Berserk Dog genjutsu.

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><p>C barred his fangs and leapt at Three. The ninja in training was taken aback by his dog's sudden ferocity. Their first spar had been going as expected. C had never fought him before and was more confused than anything else. Three persisted with his attacks. Most of them were feints with a few real blows thrown in every now and then. C had to become accustomed to fighting before any real sparring could take place.<p>

The change had been sudden. C's body had taken on an aggressive pose and then he had tried to tackle his former master. As surprised as Three was, dodging such a straightforward attack was a simple matter. Three wondered if he had pushed his dog too far. The change had been very sudden. There weren't any glares or growling beforehand. C now attacked in earnest. Three could feel his lust for blood and desire to kill, his tool was ruined. Yagi would be disappointed, but it was better to start all over.

Three drew his tanto and with a quick stab ended C's life. The dog didn't stop. The wound was obviously fatal. Three was certain he had pierced the dog's heart. What had been an unexpected and unfortunate situation suddenly became scary. What if he couldn't win? Yagi would know what to do. Three looked over his shoulder. His sensei was helping another student, every dog was attacking their owner.

While Three was distracted C attacked again and again. Desperate, Three began to hack away at the berserk animal. Blow after blow landed, but they seemed to have no effect. Even the wound in C's chest had stopped bleeding, not because it had healed, but because he was out of blood.

One second his dog was baring it's fangs, about to attack him and the next C's body was racked with spasms and then he collapsed. Three didn't trust that his dog was dead. There was something very bad going on. Over and over again his tanto cut into C's body. It wasn't until Three was confident that his dog couldn't physically move that he stopped and looked around.

Every dog lay dead at the feet of a child or Yagi. All of the other children were out of it. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves if their former pets resumed their attack. A few were even hugging their dogs, oblivious of the potential danger. Three wouldn't let that happen. They were Root; they supported the village from the darkness. None of them could fail now.

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><p>Nine stared in shock at his sword. It was covered in blood. Stone's blood. *His heart-rate, internal temperature, and adrenaline levels were all exceedingly high.* Stone had attacked him. The playful spar had gone wrong somehow. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what had happened. *Signals from his body were overloading his brain, it wasn't capable of forming a coherent thought.* Stone had looked bigger, stronger than usual. Then he had looked at Nine like he was a different person. Nine could see the rage in his eyes. *Even the subconscious signals were going haywire, breathing was shutting down.* His sword had been across his back like always. It was reflex, he didn't mean it. Stone knew he didn't mean it right? *There are too many signals.* So he stopped them all.<p>

The shock was gone. Selective signals were allowed to start again. Heartbeat. Breathing. Eyes. Ears. Nine didn't connect anything else, his brain was a mess. It was getting worse by the moment, further away from his true form. So he isolated it.

Without the distraction it wasn't hard to signal his muscles to move. He hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. Looking around he saw that the same scene had happened all over the yard. Every dog was dead, every child was in a state of shock. Some were wounded, Yagi was standing over Two with his gigantic sword through Cuddles, or rather through what once was Cuddles. Two looked deathly pale and was holding a cloth against his neck.

Seven's Kyon was the only dog that didn't seem to have any wounds. Seven was a different story, his arms were literally shredded. Even with his wounded arms he was holding Kyon to his chest and sobbing. Then Yagi was there binding Seven's wounds and performing that jutsu of his that reduced the flow of blood. Two was staring off into the distance, apparently he had received similar treatment. Nine hadn't obtained a single wound from Stone.

Having been cut off from almost every signal from his body, Nine's brain began to go through the signal cycle that he knew meant he was about to go to sleep. Except it was only his brain sleeping, the rest of him was moving with only the subconscious signals from his brain and the signals from his skeleton providing any direction. Another child had stood up and was walking around. Nine stood as well, but looked around to find Eight since Yagi was with Seven.

Eight was lying on his side with tears streaming down his face. Nine thought that he should comfort his brother, but couldn't think of anything to say. His thought process was devoted to moving his body and observing his surroundings, without his brain to do any 'heavy lifting' he was struck dumb. Mentioning the dog by name struck him as an incredibly bad idea. The other boy who was moving around was Three, he was looking at the dogs not the other children. Nine wondered why until he started stabbing the corpses. One stab each, then he walked to the next dog. If Nine was close to Stone's body when Three got there, he might have tried to stop his classmate. As it was he just looked on.

Yagi was checking on everyone's condition. Those he announced fit were told to wash up with the well in the back, then to go inside and wait. Nine followed his directions without waiting for an examination. With the notable exception of his brain, his body had already returned to it's true state.

* * *

><p>Once all the boys were cleaned and back inside the building, Yagi started his lecture.<p>

"What just happened was horrible. A ninja never knows when an attack will come from an enemy or even an ally. What you are feeling now is an emotional burden so heavy it will tear you apart if you let it. Do not do so! If you allow yourselves to feel this sadness, this sense of loss - you will feel nothing else. In time the grief will be replaced with anger, hatred, a desire for vengeance that will destroy your or your target. Most likely it will destroy both. The cycle will not end there. No, that is just the beginning. Any violence you commit will in turn hurt someone else. And so it will spread without limit. Remember what's important. You are Root. You support the village. You protect the village. If you lose yourself to your emotions you will lose the thing that makes you special. No one can be a member of Root if they cannot master themselves."

"You will not dwell on this. You will continue as normal. I cannot give you a rest, otherwise despite my warnings you will not get past this. I'm am going to patrol the area and check for anyone that should not be here. You will go outside and clean the sparring grounds."

"Take the bodies of the dogs and bury them out back. Don't talk about what happened. Stay strong. Stay silent. When I return, if I've found that it's safe to stay here, we will resume our studies. Now go!"

Yagi could tell that the plan had worked. The single most important part of the emotional training was eliminating empathy. This was why it was vital to start with such young children. Children who had just started to develop an understanding of other people and their emotions. If you could make someone care about someone else, get them to empathize with them, and then eliminate that person or animal in the most traumatic way possible... Then they would be wary of forming such ties again. Do it repeatedly and they would become incapable of relating to other people. With no emotions to share with others, their own emotions would wither and die. Surrounded by other people who had no emotions would maintain the effect as they grew older.

With that Yagi left them to go and patrol the woods. He wasn't planning and doing a thorough sweep. Just to go far enough that any of the children who paid attention would notice that he had done what he'd said. Three was sure to notice if he didn't. The water clone he had made this morning was still hidden on top of the house. He didn't have to stay in order to keep tabs on his young wards. Yagi hoped the children didn't bury the dogs very deep. Disposing of bodies for the next class to use this facility was hard enough if you weren't skilled with earth jutsus.

* * *

><p>It took all of Nine's concentration to dispose of the corpses. Yagi's speech hadn't had time to sink in. The other children were walking around in a daze. Three coordinated their efforts. Since Nine was uninjured, Three told him to dig the grave. The simple, repetitive task was all that he could handle.<p>

Once the dogs were buried, Yagi returned. The rest of the day was spent learning about how to shape chakara for jutsus. The first thing they started to learn was the clone jutsu. A duplicate of themselves that was formed out of pure chakara. It had no physical presence, but it was an invaluable tool for misleading opponents. For the rest of the day they practiced the hand signs that were needed to shape their chakara for the jutsu. Six was the only one who came close when he managed to make a small puff of smoke occur. Nothing came out of the smoke, but it was more of an effect than anyone else got. Before they had all looked forward to learning their first jutsus. Every one of Nine's classmates had bragged how they were going to master this or that jutsu. Now they were finally learning one, but no one showed any enthusiasm. It was if they had died instead of their dogs.

When night fell, and everyone went inside to sleep, Nine just laid awake in bed. Without anything to distract him he was able to share in the dreams which his brain had been having during the day. He was concerned that the only thing his brain would be able to fixate on would be the image of Stone dead by his own sword. The dreams he was having were exactly that. Each dream started with a different scenario, some were at the orphanage, some were at the bad place, a few were in the forest. Every last one of them ended with him killing Stone. His mind was fixated on it. Nine had experienced the same obsessive behavior when he and his brothers had left the bad place. For the first week every waking though seemed to lead back there. It was more than a month before the nightmares stopped. It would've been best if his brain hadn't experienced Stone's death. If he had been a quicker the could've shielded himself from it.

As much as he wanted to keep his brain and the dark thoughts that permeated it away, such a thing probably wasn't possible. Thinking was difficult, with only his skeleton . The only thing to do was to remove the isolation of his brain and try to identify when he was focusing too much on today. His brothers were going to have to do it, so were all the other children. He even had an advantage with having a strange outside viewpoint on his own thoughts.


	4. Chapter 3: Jutsu Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

><p>Yagi's greatest skill as a ninja was his ability to sense chakara. This made him an excellent instructor since he could give his students much better advice than someone who could only teach by looking at the result of an attempt at a jutsu rather than the process as a whole. He could even tell what elemental affinity a person possessed, with a near perfect success rate with people who only possessed one affinity. Multiple affinities always felt unique so they were much harder to completely identify every component. As far as he knew this ability was unique even among sensory-type ninjas.<p>

The orphan's teacher used his sense of people's chakara to track them the same way an Inuzuka used their sense of smell. Like every good ninja Yagi was a light sleeper. So when he sensed the chakara of one of his students moving about the house and exiting to the outside it was enough to wake him up. A boy running away today wouldn't be surprising. It had happened in the past. Better for them to show either their cowardliness or defiance now than to wait for the final test.

The chakara quantity and feel was definitely Nine. No other kid had the same texture chakara as him. Yagi strongly suspected he had a lightening affinity. The second rarest affinity and a bloodline ability, it was a shame he'd have to dealt with. When Nine got to the trees Yagi's water clone that he had patrolling would spot him if it hadn't already.

Nine's chakara had moved outside, but it hadn't moved further than that. Instead it seemed to be stationary, and fluctuating slightly. After 10 minutes of this, Yagi got up to check on his wayward student himself. Nine was outside making hand signs repeatedly.

"Why aren't you inside?"

"Oh, sensei. I couldn't fall asleep. I thought I'd try practicing my hand signs some more. My mind wasn't really on it during today's lessons."

"There are a few problems with that Nine. First, don't ever leave the building without my permission. Today should've been an excellent example that you don't know who could be lurking in the woods ready to kill you. Second, even if you can't sleep your body needs to replenish itself. If you don't let your chakara reserves refill you'll just become weaker every day. Even normal people who can't utilize chakara will succumb to chakara exhaustion if they go too long without rest. Third, never practice manipulating your chakara without my supervision. The clone jutsu is the safest technique we have, and the amount of chakara needed for it is so small you'll probably never exhaust yourself with just it. Other techniques could be deadly to train without help. Don't get into bad habits. Finally, as your teacher I should observe your training so I tell how fast your learning and when you'll be ready for more instruction."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, sensei!"

"Good, then go to your bed and meditate if you can't sleep. You need to be able to feel your own chakara if you want to shape it into a jutsu. Meditation can be a huge help with that aspect."

"Yes, sensei! Right away sensei!"

Bowing, Nine returned to the house where all the other boys were currently sleeping. Yagi was glad. Nine had talent, it would've been wasteful to kill one of Orochimaru's more promising experiments. A lot of effort had gone into procuring the three 'brothers'.

* * *

><p>Back in bed Nine tried to sense his own chakara. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was simple. His form, his true self, it was his chakara. It permeated every bit of his body. He had always felt it, now he could name it. Every signal seemed to cause eddies and flows within his body's chakara. Like a pebble thrown in a lake, the results were easy to see. Lost in his new found knowledge, Nine didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he awoke to the sounds of everyone else dressing. He'd actually had a dream about chakara instead of a nightmare about Stone. He liked the dream, but he felt guilty at the same time.<p>

When they were outside, Yagi told them to wait. Their teacher opened up another scroll similar to the one which had held their swords. This time when the small puffs of smoke cleared there were ten masks on the ground instead.

"Each of you take the mask in front of you and wear it. As part of your emotional training you will take on the name of the animal of your mask. Your old names no longer exist. When you take on a different mask you take on a different name. Five, what is the purpose of this?"

"Sensei it is so we don't bear the burden of emotions."

"Why did you answer Cat? I asked Five, but I don't see him here. Three, tell me what your name is without the mask on."

"Boar, tell me the name you have when you don't wear a mask."

"I have no name without my mask sensei."

"Good. From today onward you will find your own food, and fix your own meals. You have one hour to gather all the supplies you need before we start going over the clone jutsu again. Dismissed!"

* * *

><p>The boy without a name woke up. What would he be called today? Yagi sometimes swapped the masks hanging off the foot of their beds at night. It didn't happen every night, and he didn't swap every mask when he did. Last night he had gone to bed as Fox, getting dressed today he put on the Crow mask.<p>

Crow thought highly of Root after Yagi's speech. He never understood emotions really. Other people had them and it made them weak. Yagi had purged himself of such flaws long ago. Root understood the truth of the world. Crow was glad to be a member. He saw now that his parents should've paid to grant him the privilege of joining such an enlightened organization. Root was smarter than that though. They were willing to give away a good sum of money for someone with potential like him. It should've been the other way around, parents should pay them for this kind of education.

He could live among the masses that fooled themselves, or he could be with Root. There really was no comparison. He'd have to be insane to choose anything else.

* * *

><p>The children had taken to the new curriculum nicely. The five genetically gifted children were coming along in their studies better than he had hoped. Without numbers or any distinguishing physical features to tell the snake sanin's experiments apart he had taken to thinking of them as "Happy", "Sad", and "Stoic". The other boys with bloodlines he simply thought of as "Magnet" and "Scorch".<p>

Happy, formerly Seven, was trying to follow the rules of the emotional training, but not the spirit. He would've died before killing his dog, that wasn't a good sign. He even insisted on calling his "brothers" by their former names when he thought they were alone. His physical skills were finally progressing due to the chakara training. Both he and Sad would eventually be very good at enhancing their strength and speed with chakara since they were now doing it almost constantly. His other jutsus had progressed in the year of study to the point where he could make 3 clones of good quality. His substitution technique was lacking, once again because of the inherent difficulty of swapping his abnormally heavy body. Transformation was similarly limited for the same reason.

Sad, was the opposite of Happy in attitude. His mind might break before the training was up. Ability-wise he and Happy were almost identical. The lack of good substitution and transformation techniques was disappointing.

Stoic, the unique one of the three metal skeleton experiments was the most promising. His emotional training was superb. If you didn't know what signs to look for, you could be fooled into thinking his emotions were still present, but the subtle physical signs and chakara fluctuations just weren't there no matter what he said or did. Even Magnet when he was Three hadn't been that open with his overt actions and guarded at heart. Stoic's jutsu training was progressing rapidly as well. His clone jutsu had gotten to the point where it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. His substitution jutsu didn't have the same problems that were plaguing Happy and Sad. He hadn't been able to transform into a non-human shape yet, but that was normal. It took a lot of effort to master transformation to such a degree. Even his human transformations were limited to his own size. It was a strange restriction and obviously had to do with his skeleton. Yagi's current theory was that he wasn't capable of transforming his metallic bones and so couldn't change his general shape or size at all. The most surprising part of Stoic's development was his speed. While his basic agility was always good - somehow not being weighted down by his own weight, his reflexes were...phenomenal. Yagi had to admit that in terms of pure reaction time he had never seen a faster child.

The odd part was that Stoic had zero ability to sense chakara. Normally chakara sense and how well you were able to learn and perform jutsus were directly related. Stoic learned jutsus faster than any of his other classmates, possibly quicker than any of Yagi's other students. His chakara control was on par with Yagi's himself. Chakara control and sensing ability almost always were found in equal amounts, but not this time. This was such a paradox that Yagi had though the boy must've been hiding his sensing ability for some reason. Some experimentation had ruled this out though. Even non-sensory type ninjas could usually sense chakara a little bit. A strange feeling or a sense of foreboding. With the single flaw of slightly worse than average transformation skill, Stoic had surpassed Magnet as Yagi's primary choice for the mission.

Magnet was doing very well though. Now that he wasn't playing at manipulating people's emotions as he did when he was Three, his real personality was showing through. He would never have made it as a regular ninja, but Root was the perfect fit for him. Yagi was sure Magnet himself had realized this. All three of Magnet's base jutsus were at a high level already. His taijutsu and sensing abilities were also above average. Magnet didn't seem to sense things in the passive way that most ninja did. He was subconsciously using his kekkei genkai to send out a subtle magnetic pulse, and sensing the feedback like sonar. Once Yagi began to teach them how to use their natural jutsus, Magnet's abilities would be complete.

While Scorch had been shy as Six, he was almost catatonic now. Yagi couldn't get him to say more than two words at a time: "Yes, sensei" and "No, sensei" being the most common. This wasn't a problem since Scorch had taken to training above all else. Conditioning new members would be so much easier if they all behaved like Scorch. He was second only to Nine in chakara manipulation. His clone jutsu could now be done without any hand signs. His substitution jutsu could already swap places with heavy object like rocks. Scorch could probably pull off a substitution using a living creature as a target, though only one with no chakara control like an dog or a cat. His transformation was capable of copying inanimate objects. Scorch even showed a basic chakara sensing ability. There were still a few rough edges, but it was amazing progress.

Yagi still had a year before he'd have to take one of them to the Hidden Mist if they were going to escape and be taken to the Hidden Leaf by the deadline. The children would either learn how to use their bloodlines, or a different advanced jutsu during this time. Just because the special children had an advantage, Yagi couldn't forget about the other five. While they couldn't be used for the mission, four of the children would ultimately end up as standard Root agents. The odds were in the other bloodline children, but if one of them failed his replacement would have to be skilled enough to warrant the position.

* * *

><p>The deer looked up from the stream. It's eyes intently looked into the forest and it's ears stood up straining to hear a sound. It had caught a scent of something. It's decision as to run or drink some more water lasted a split second. As it turned to bolt a metal kunai shot from the tree line and struck it in the throat.<p>

Two masked children emerged from the other side of the stream and jumped over the water to meet the third masked boy who was already kneeling over his kill.  
>"Nice shot Nine."<p>

"Why do you have to call him that? His name is Boar."

"For the same reason I call you Eight and not Deer. They're our names. Besides, it'd be strange to call you Deer while we're skinning our catch here."

"Boar, tell him to stop. We'll get in trouble by Yagi sensei."

"I don't mind. I like being called Nine, it's the name we got when we were rescued. Also, Seven's right, it'd be strange to call you Deer while we're cutting one up."

"My name is Deer. You should call me that."

"Hee hee. Eight wants us to call him 'Dear'. Why brother, I didn't know you cared about us like that."

"What? No, I mean, not like that. Grrrrr, you're so infuriating Seven!"

"You just called him 'Seven' instead of 'Fox'. I think I can see his face getting red even under the mask."

"Why I think you're right brother. You can tell by his ears. I do believe we've embarrassed him."

"L-l-lets just get this finished and get back to the house ok? Today we're going to learn how to use our special jutsu!"

"Yes Dear."

Boar couldn't hold in his laughter after that. Yagi would probably scold them all: both for the emotional display as well as making such a racket. Eventually he calmed down and helped his brothers dress their kill. Eight was right, today was a special day. They needed to get back quickly.

* * *

><p>Yagi looked at his wayward students. Normally the special jutsu training was done one on one while the other students practiced their taijutsu. These three boys had the same bloodline trait though, so he was going to help them experiment together. Happy, Sad, and Stoic had a bond that was as strong as ever, and it promoted emotion. This was normally not an issue that couldn't be corrected, but all three of them were potentially of great value. Yagi wondered if he'd have to have two of them face off. It would result in the loss of at least one, but if he didn't all three of them might not make it. He would have to think about it some more.<p>

"Boar, I heard some very strange noises coming from the forest a short while ago. I will make this clear. In Root we do not display emotions. They are nothing but a hindrance. If you do not master them, you will not be able to join Root. If you do not join Root, the only other option is death. Do I make myself clear?"

Three voices said "Yes, sensei" at the same time.

"Good. Now we will start to try and unlock your bloodline abilities. First, summon as much chakara a you can... Now, instead of having it flow outside, focus it inward. Make it flow into your bones. Can you feel it?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Continue making it flow. Feel the chakara as it's about to enter your bones, then try and feel it once it's inside. Can you sense it?"

"No, sensei."

The training continued, but none of them showed any progress. Yagi doubted that Stoic was even getting his chakara to flow correctly. Happy and Sad were average chakara sensors so they could faintly feel chakara, enough so that they were probably getting their chakara to flow to the right place. There chakara had dipped slightly - wasted from trying to infuse it into a non-living target. It took special materials like his chakara blade Steam, or a fuujutsu seal to store chakara. Their bones didn't seem to be able to hold any chakara of a significant amount. Stoic's chakara had dipped significantly. Yagi had hoped he had succeeded where his two brothers had failed again. His claims that he couldn't sense it when it was inside his bones didn't mean anything, he couldn't sense the chakara of his jonin instructor when he stood less than a foot away. However with the amount of chakara he had expended, Yagi should've felt something by now. No, the most likely case was he was failing to direct it properly. Yagi decided to give them the rest of the day and tomorrow to achieve any amount of success. If nothing happened by then he'd teach them another jutsu. The three of them would still practice infusing their bones with chakara on their own every day, the test could've failed because their bloodlines hadn't matured yet. A non-visible result would put Stoic out of contention for the mission though.

* * *

><p>Nine had felt a strange combination of energetic and tired after the training session with Yagi. He moved more easily, but his stamina was gone. After a good night's sleep, he felt like he could run all day long. He couldn't sense the chakara he had put in his bones, but he had felt it flow inside. Like a sponge soaking up water, the flow of chakara felt natural. He could now feel a tiny amount of chakara always flowing to his skeleton. It had probably always been like this, he just hadn't noticed. The signals he sent from his skeleton were much more powerful now. It took some practice to control their intensity so that he didn't hurt himself. It was the same as it had been when he first made his arm spasm.<p>

Yagi had adjusted their training schedule so at the end of the day they tried to infuse their bones with chakara. Nine still couldn't sense any chakara from his bones. Since no progress was being made with their kekkei genkai, Yagi had taught them each an advanced jutsu. Nine had learned 'Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration'. It was a variant on Yagi's sword enhancing techniques. While their sensei couldn't use the jutsu himself, Nine had a complimentary chakara nature. Yagi's explained that the shaping principle for the chakara was the same, and that lightning chakara was able to enter normal metal objects. Even without a special sword like sensei's, Nine was able to use the jutsu. It was a very draining technique, the energy wasn't contained in the sword and kept on dispersing. Yagi assured him with practice he'd be able to maintain the ability for longer periods of time.

* * *

><p>Monkey was getting better at sensing metal objects. After Yagi had made him aware of what he had been doing without noticing before, it became obvious. With a slight push he could feel the reverberations. Every ninja carried weapons; He could now exploit this fact.<p>

There were some metals that he couldn't sense though. Sensei's sword didn't respond, nor did the three brothers. Monkey had always felt that there was something off about those three, and when he had learned what their specific gift was it made sense. His subconscious scanning must have identified them. Now they had enough chakara surrounding their metallic bones that his probe couldn't penetrate it.

Pushing metal was next on his schedule. If he control a shuriken mid-flight he'd be unstoppable. He might be able to throw the brothers around with his power. The sky was the limit.

* * *

><p>The day of the final test had arrived, the light drizzle outside seemed appropriate somehow. Yagi had told his students about it a week ago, he then let them convince themselves that they wanted to participate. The way each one of them would rationalize it would be different, but the end result would be the same. A shinobi had to be able to kill when commanded to, even if the target was a lover, friend, or classmate. Yagi had worried that Happy would try to do something stupid, but the boy had accepted the fights like everyone else. The Root jonin had decided that all three of Orochimaru's experiments were too valuable to lose. So he wouldn't have them face each other. Happy vs. Sad would've been a good match. The winner would've been completely broken and ready to join Root.<p>

* * *

><p>Dog looked across at Cat. The time Dog had spent with his parents before joining Root let him know how poetic their masks were for today. Yagi had told them a week ago that they were going to have to prove themselves. You couldn't be a member of Root if you let your emotions get in your way. This was a test of both emotional and physical strength. Dog wouldn't fail. He was stronger than any of his classmates, though he had felt relief when the wasn't placed up against Monkey. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to prove himself by fighting Fox. If they had fought, Dog would've beaten him. The way Yagi held the other boy in high regard grated on him.<p>

Their sensei signaled and the match began. Cat matched his charge, obviously planning on substituting away from his blow and then trying something. Dog wouldn't give him the chance. When they were a few steps away he generated a powerful magnetic pulse aiming at Cat's sword. He could now activate his kekkei genkai without hand signs or vocalizations. Sometimes the pulse pulled metal objects, sometimes it pushed them, but either would work right now. The invisible pulse struck his opponent's sword, the sudden jerk pulled him three feet forward. The distraction probably ruined whatever jutsu or trick he had up his sleeve. Dog capitalized on the momentary vulnerability. His tanto slipped cleanly in between Cat's ribs and through his heart. The match was his.

* * *

><p>Mouse was ready for his fight. He wasn't Seven any more. Seven would never kill another boy, especially not shy Bear. Seven would do the right thing even if it meant not becoming part of Root. Mouse would join Root, he would live. Since his opponent wasn't Eight or Nine under that mask he could do it. Being a part of Root meant something, they supported the village, they protected the village, even at the cost of themselves. With Root around there wouldn't be any more children who grew up like animals in cages. Root was not a fun place, but you couldn't hold back the darkness with fun.<p>

Mouse charged Bear. With his tanto above his head, he was vulnerable. The overhand blow would finish Bear off with one hit. This was the best way. Bear slashed him, and substituted away. Mouse expected that exact move. Bear's attack couldn't really hurt him. Mouse was too strong, too tough, his metal skeleton made sure of that. Bear was to his left. Mouse charged again, and again, and again. Each time he struck nothing but a wooden log. Each time Bear landed another blow on him. Substitution was not an easy jutsu to use constantly, but Bear was proving quite adept. If this kept up, Mouse might die free of the stain of murder. Could Seven find salvation in death?

No. There were too many people to protect right here and right now. To do that he had to have power. The power that Root could provide. The next time Bear struck him, mouse took the hit then created a clone. Bear had appeared to his right this time. The clone charged, but just a little bit slower than normal. Mouse moved right behind his duplicate. Bear was timing his strike and substitution for when the clone reached him. Mouse and Bear both struck through the copy, both connected. Only one of them had bones strong enough to withstand the cleaving strike of the other. Bear lay dead, his skull shattered by Mouse's attack. Mouse was now a member of Root. He would have no regrets. He would master himself.

* * *

><p>Deer was up against Monkey. Monkey, Fox, and Dog were at the top of the class. They all had a kekkei genkai. They all were special. Deer didn't like his odds. Two of his friends had just been killed in front of him. Looking at his opponent, Deer steeled his resolve. The orphanage was a good place. Starving on the streets of a village he didn't even know the name of, that was scary. This fight was nothing. If killing Monkey was all it took, then Deer would do it.<p>

At the start of the match Monkey split into five copies. Each of them spread out and began to throw strange balls of fire at Deer. Deer had seen Monkey's bloodline ability before. The Scorch release evaporated all water it touched. It couldn't be blocked. So it didn't matter that he knew that four of the Monkeys that surrounded him were just clones without substance. He had to dodge all of their attacks. His water wall jutsu wouldn't even slow the blasts down, but only if he used it for blocking.

Deer began to form the hand signs to summon walls of water to surround all of his opponents. Monkey might be a genius with chakara control, but Deer wasn't a slouch. The drain to make all the walls was substantial, but the ambient water from the rain made it much easier than it would've been otherwise. The real Monkey would have to use his attack to break the wall around him, then Deer would know who the real threat was and could easily dodge his attacks.

Even if Monkey made more clones, the walls of water would block their line of fire. The sound from an attack breaching the walls would be noticeable. Monkey couldn't take him unaware with the field as it now was. A rock that was where Monkey had started the match turned back into a ninja with a burst of flames directed at Deer. Monkey's opponent didn't dodge the one real Scorch release that had been used in their fight.

* * *

><p>Boar was ready for his fight. His brothers had finally accepted their real names this last week. Eight was a foolish boy with a stupid dog. Boar was a ninja. So what if he had to kill someone else? Being a ninja meant that you were a tool. You existed for the sake of the village. Weapons killed people. They didn't think. They didn't feel. Boar would become the perfect ninja. There was no other path.<p>

Boar had caught a lucky break. His bloodline ability wasn't that useful in a fight, unless you let yourself be stabbed like Mouse. The advanced jutsu that he had learned: 'Water Style: Liquid Bullets', was another matter. In this weather, it would be easy to use his technique. Horse only knew a fireball jutsu. The weather had conspired to grant him every advantage. Horse tried to close the distance between them, but the water projectiles kept him at bay. His clones only provided a momentary distraction. His substitutions only gave him a temporary reprieve. His fireballs were pierced by a technique that consumed much less chakara. Boar did have to enhance his speed to dodge the fireballs, but the total cost was higher for Mouse. After five clones, one substitution, and three fireballs, Horse had grown tired enough that his second attempt at a substitution came a moment too late.

* * *

><p>Nine had watched all the preceding fights without feeling a thing. He had perfected his selective blocking of signals. His brain would receive a very, edited version of the fight he was going to have. The technique had worked as he watched the other fights. While he knew that his friends and classmates had just cut each other down, it left no lasting impression on him. While in this state he was completely emotionally detached. The ideal Root ninja. Nine's decision to kill a classmate hadn't really been that hard. Yagi had told them that failure to join Root meant death. Nine didn't want to die. He said a short prayer when Seven, Eight, and him had managed to avoid fighting each other. With his signals blocked, he might be able to kill his brothers, but he didn't think he'd be able to handle unblocking himself ever again.<p>

His opponent was Crow. The two of them had never gotten along, Crow always had to be the leader. Nine and his brothers had avoided him. When Yagi told them to start, Nine drew and threw three kunai with blinding speed. They missed as Crow dodged to the side. Crow finished the hand signs and verbal activation of a jutsu - "Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique". Nine threw another kunai at Crow, but he didn't see if it hit. A thick white fog had enveloped the area, and he could barely see his hand in front of his face. The chakara saturated fog also absorbed virtually all sounds. Crow would be in the same position he was, but he could find Nine. Crow wasn't a sensory-type ninja, but his sensing ability was better than average. He could tell where people were in the mist somehow. Chakara, vibrations, scent. Nine didn't know how he did it, but the specifics wouldn't matter in the next few minutes.

Nine readied a kunai in each hand. He was faster than Crow. Normally signals through a body followed nerve pathways to and from the brain. Nine now made his signals all go through his skeleton. This almost completely reduced the time a signal took to travel through his body to nothing. It also made selective blocking of signals much quicker and easier. Nine would be able to see an attack a split second before it hit him. If he moved fast enough he could throw out a counter.

A kunai struck him in the right shoulder. He pulled it out and crouched down on the ground as another thrown knife went above him. Favoring speed over stealth Nine moved towards the direction the attacks had come from as fast as he could without being able to see the ground. A form appeared in the mist before him, Nine lunged with the weapon in his right hand. He struck first, but his blade only passed through a clone. Crow's sword chopped at his outstretched hand. Nine's grip on his kunai failed as blow after blow came from Crow. He managed to block the attacks from hitting his face or body, but his arm was now a bloody mess. Nine tried to put some distance between himself and his attacker so he could draw his sword. Kunai didn't have the reach to be used effectively against the longer tanto. The mist cleared as Crow released the jutsu.

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><p>"With your arm like that you can't make any signs. I'm going to cut you until you bleed to death."<p>

Crow smiled. The arrogant star pupil was going to lose to him. He was the most deserving. His jutsu has worked perfectly. Now his opponent had only one hand. He couldn't form hand signs or defend himself properly. If the jutsu didn't take so much chakara to maintain, he'd have won already. As it was he could finish Yagi's favorite off with just his taijutsu.

Their swords rebounded off each other with a satisfying clash. Fox was being forced to use his off hand to fight. Crow was driving him back with every exchange. Fox leaped back to put some room between them, but then sprung forward to try and take him off guard. Crow parried the attack and moved inside his opponent's reach. He had a kunai in his left hand, it would decide the match. They were too close for kicks. Fox's right arm was useless and his left one was being held back by his opponent's right. As long as Crow didn't fall for something foolish like a headbutt the match was his.

Fox's useless right hand came up in an uppercut. Crow was knocked off his feet. He had to get up, but couldn't. Fox was walking over to him. His healed hand had blue energy arcing over it. He wouldn't kill him would he? Crow tried to beg him for mercy, but his tongue wouldn't work. Whatever was surrounding Fox's fist had made his first blow stun him. He couldn't avoid the followup that caved in his mask and ended his life.

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><p>Yagi was surprised by the match. Not that Stoic had won, even with his lack of sensing ability exploited the match could only have gone one way. Crow didn't have a strong enough jutsu to finish him off. It would've been a repeat of the Happy fight. No, the surprise was that Stoic's arm had healed mid-fight. His bloodline must have awakened. Yagi took Stoic inside to examine his arm. As he wiped the blood away he saw a silver medal filling the wounds from Crow's sword. The boy's skeleton had stopped the bleeding, and allowed him to move with his muscles cut. Lightening arced along the exposed metal. Much less intense than what had ended the fight, but still visible. Yagi briefly though that perhaps the same result could be obtained by cutting his brothers. The fact that Happy had just been cut that deep made him reconsider that particular training method.<p>

Nine looked down at his hand as Yagi wiped the blood off. There was a silver glint, and then his world turned sideways and inside out. He was outside. His chakara was different. He kept on moving despite sitting still. Nine fainted.


	5. Chapter 4: The Sound Four

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>The display Stoic has shown with his kekkei genkai, and his subsequent handling of the emotional weight of killing a classmate had cemented him as Yagi's choice for the ideal candidate for Danzo's mission. A little more than two years had passed, so he had a while to help the remaining members refine their jutsus. A few more basic techniques would be in order too. Stoic would need to learn the Water Walking jutsu along with the Body Flicker technique. Yagi would also begin their instruction into resisting genjutsu and torture. He wanted to devote more time to examining Stoic's bone growth if he had time, but it had reached the level that was needed already.<p>

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><p>Nine hadn't been able to talk with Seven or Eight since that day almost two months ago. His brothers had lost something when they were forced to fight and kill their classmates. Seven never smiled anymore and Eight had gotten nearly as bad as the kid with the strange fireballs. The selective signal blocking Nine had used during his fight had worked, it was as if someone else that had killed Crow. Still, it felt horrible just remembering it and he couldn't imagine what his brothers were having to deal with. It wasn't fair. Yagi said it was for the good of everyone, and he could see the reasoning behind not being consumed by hatred. His brothers had paid a high price for their emotional strength. Seven and Eight might still be alive, but they'd never be the same. As selfish as it was, the worst part was that Seven had even quit calling him 'Nine'.<p>

His bloodline ability had blossomed. His bones were capable of repairing damage when he pulled them back out of a wound by knitting his flesh together with chakara. He could even force his bones to the surface of his hands without having a path to follow. When Yagi had wiped the blood off after the fight, he had fainted. The chakara, lights, and sounds of the world outside his body had been too much, too confusing. When he came to he had managed to block the signals. It was more information than he was capable of processing.

When he made his bones extend in his hands without a wound to fill, it was just a line of gray that ran from the tip of each finger to a band at his wrist with larger nodes at his joints. The effect was that it looked like you could see his skeleton inside of his hand. Forcing his bones through his flesh hurt. The disruption of his form and chakara was painful. Outside his body signals became lightening. Normal strength signals weren't noticeable, but his chakara enhanced ones were powerful. Just like the energy around the punch that had killed Crow.

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><p>Now that Yagi had found his candidate he would need to train Stoic as much as possible in the little time they had left. Water walking was next step. The Leaf equivalent - tree climbing - wasn't taught at the academy level. The Village Hidden in the Mist found the ability to stand on the most prominent element in their land too vital to not be trained early. Using your chakara to grasp a tree was much easier to accomplish than doing the same with water, but the theory behind the technique was identical. Too little chakara and you wouldn't keep the water firm under you (or stick to the tree for the Leaf version); too much chakara and you would push the water away (or push yourself away from the tree).<p>

Not much chakara was needed, but the amount required was very precise. Any ripple on the water would subtly change how much chakara the user had to provide. Happy was the only student that didn't pick up the technique quickly. Scorch, Magnet, and Stoic all had excellent chakara control. Sad most likely had a water affinity, which helped him in overcoming his lack of fine control. Thus, Happy spent day after day alone and wet trying to master the jutsu.

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><p>Fox didn't like the 'Body Flicker' jutsu. Monkey and Dog had picked it up quickly. The two other 'brothers' who were usually last in everything had mastered it before he did! This basic technique was standing in his way of Yagi helping him master his magnetic kekkei genkai. How was he supposed to become the ideal Root ninja if he couldn't master such a basic ability. None of the other students were displaying emotions now. His unique advantages, the things that made him better than everyone else had now been appropriated by his classmates or weren't being allowed to grow because of this one jutsu.<p>

It had been a month since Yagi had told him to train on his own until the technique was complete. The theory behind it was simple enough: focus your chakara inwards, let it build up, and when it reached it's peak let it go and move. Yagi had compared it to drawing an arrow. If you released it too soon nothing happened and you looked like a fool when you tried to move at superhuman speeds and failed. If you waited too long the chakara would leak out and there would be no "bubble" that allowed you to move at such a speed and overcome friction.

At it's heart, body flicker was like normal enhancement that only effected speed. That combined with the bubble was what made the jutsu work. Fox couldn't even practice the more interesting aspect of using body flicker. Since you were moving so fast, you couldn't make course corrections as you went. The whole move had to be planned out in advance.

At least he could perform the final part of the jutsu, using a small obstruction to distract your opponent and obscure where you had moved to. Yagi had taught them how to use the smoke or mist to mask their movement. It was a very small consolation. When your body flicker was fast enough, a distraction wouldn't be needed. Fox would overcome this as he had overcome everything else. How did those two idiots learn it faster than him?

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><p>Nine hated genjutsus. Yagi had started training them to resist the technique. Genjutsus affected an opponent's senses by imposing the users chakara upon them. When Yagi had first used on on them, Nine could feel the invading chakara immediately. There was nothing he could do about it. *My form is compromised.* *Something is trying to change my true self.* The violation of his person was horrible. Nine could always count on maintaining his real self, outside forces may damage it, but he could always repair it. Genjutsus didn't damage, they corrupted. He could feel Yagi's chakara manipulating the signals he got from his eyes and ears, it made him feel helpless.<p>

The worst part was the idea that someone could manipulate him into doing something with this vile set of techniques. He had done some things in life that no matter the circumstances would be considered wrong. He had killed Stone. If he was stronger like Seven, Stone might have lived. He knew it was unlikely, whatever had effected his dog that day probably would've killed him like it killed Kyon, but he had been weak. He had killed Crow. Yagi had given them ample warning. Even though the alternative would probably have been death, Nine had taken Crows life with his own hand. It was his own choice.

Genjutsus didn't leave that kind of choice. They destroyed the sanctity of self. Nine couldn't think of a worse offense. If Yagi had tried to teach them this evil ability, Nine would refuse no matter what the fallout was. He was Root; he supported the village from the darkness. He would support the village without resorting to this. Thankfully Yagi didn't try to teach them genjutsus, and the way to counter-act the effects was simple. Nine probably could've figured it out on his own, but who knew what damage would've been inflicted to or by him before he did so. Since the user's chakara was being forced inside your body, all you had to do was reassert your own chakara. Releasing a pulse was the tried and true method. Yagi warned them that some genjutsus were so powerful that even inside your own body, countering the foreign chakara was not easy.

Nine proved adept at resisting every genjutsu that Yagi could produce. No matter how strong he could break the effect with little effort. No matter how weak, he would notice his sensei's chakara immediately. Yagi had told them he wasn't especially skilled with genjutsus. Nine hoped he never met someone who was. His prowess at resisting illusions had impressed his sensei so much that he had been excused from genjutsu training weeks before the other boys. Nine was extremely happy with this, but he hid it. No one else showed any emotions now. Nine had become accustomed to constantly blocking his emotional signals. It did make training easier.

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><p>Yagi was not a very skilled torturer. He knew several techniques for resisting torture, but everyone gives up eventually. Countering torture was about mental discipline. Divorcing yourself from your body. Having a purpose that was worth dying for. Root would provide that purpose, but it would take time. It was dangerous to give information to an untrained asset, but Stoic seemed immune to pain and could counter any genjutsu that Yagi was capable of performing.<p>

Yagi took Stoic aside and told him about the special mission. Once their training was finished the two of them were going to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Stoic would be playing the role of a student there who was driven out for possessing a bloodline. His goal would be to escape to the Land of Fire and avoid any hunter ninjas until he found a Leaf patrol to claim refuge with. Stoic didn't need to know any of the details, just what was going to be expected of him. He accepted the mission from his teacher without a question. It was exactly what a tool of Root should do.

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><p>Nine had spent a lot of their time training with Yagi ever since their teacher had told Nine about the mission he would be going on. Yagi was interested in exactly what Nine's skeleton was capable of, specifically it's ability to move. Yagi had asked if he could move his body using only his skeleton. Nine told him he could, but only for a short time. The Root jonin had had Nine move his leg up and down while he examined it. Yagi's conclusion was that he was moving his leg in the same way that his bones pushed up from his skin. Normally a person's muscle pulled from the ankle when he bent his knee or straightened his leg. Nine's knee bending without using his muscle was exactly that - his knee was being bent. Just like a lever multiplied force, his leg muscles were acting on the far end of the fulcrum. With his bones bending on their own, the length of his leg was used against him.<p>

The simple test was to compare the difficulty in moving his fingers vs. moving his leg or arm. The relative ease of his hand movements seemed to support Yagi's theory. Nine and Yagi still sparred for about 3 minutes a day with Nine not using his muscles. He was stiff, uncoordinated, and after 3 minutes dead tired. Meditating and pushing chakara into his bones helped with the exhaustion, but moving without muscles was hard. Yagi insisted that he continue with the training every day. While progress was slow, his movements became almost human, which was a far cry from a ninja's physical prowess.

The final exercise Yagi came up with was hard. It didn't wear him out like their sparring at least. Yagi had Nine place his palm on a tree, form a spear with his bones and extend it from his palm. After half an hour the spear was a good inch into the tree. Nine spent his resting time everyday trying to make the spear move faster and farther. There was no more playing with his brothers. They didn't even hunt together anymore. Training filled every waking moment of Nine's life.

* * *

><p>Yagi was woken up by the death of his water clone. His clone had been patrolling the area north of the facility when he was killed. The memories Yagi got from when his water clone jutsu ended revealed that his clone hadn't sensed any enemies before it was destroyed. Moving silently, Yagi raced outside towards where the attack had happened. The unknown enemy was about a mile away. Between the last location of his clone and the facility was the perfect place to set an ambush if his opponents did indeed know where they were and came in a straight line.<p>

The large clearing was exposed, anyone who was trying to sneak through the forest would have to take a wide detour or leave the cover of the trees. On the north side, Yagi found a puddle just past the tree line. He quickly made the hand signs for the 'Hiding in Water Technique' and sank into the shallow water. In this state he couldn't see or hear anything, but his ability to sense chakara was unaffected. A few minutes later a strange presence came into range, it felt almost dichotomous. The person was suppressing his chakara well. The person moved past him to the edge of the clearing and paused. Rising out of the water, Yagi saw a ninja with dark gray hair wearing a brown tunic. A large scroll was tied to his back by a purple rope belt, and large hump covered with the same dark gray hair protruded from the boy's back.

Yagi pulled a kunai out of a pouch and reached around to place it at the boy's throat.

"Tell me who you are."

"I'm your superior."

A hand extended from the gray haired boy's shoulder and grabbed Yagi's wrist. Another came out of his back and grabbed Yagi's left hand which was moving to attack with a second kunai. Yagi was knocked away by a kick from two feet that had emerged from the strange ninja's back. The Root jonin flew backward, the force of the kick had been absorbed by the armor on his leg that he had gotten between him and his opponent just in time. Yagi threw the two kunai that he was holding in quick succession, and was making the hand signs for his next jutsu before he landed.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu"

The fireball engulfed the area where the other ninja had been a moment ago. The only thing burning was a tree that had been behind the ninja, his opponent had managed to dodge the flames by running behind a tree. Yagi turned, his opponent's chakara was now 10 meters to his right. As Yagi began to form the signs for another fire jutsu, a white ball of a sticky substance hit him from the side. The force of the impact knocked him into a tree where the ball spread into a web that encased him.

"What a low-level opponent. How disappointing."

The speaker emerged from the foliage. A tan shinobi with black hair and eyes walked over to his gray haired partner. He had six arms and wore a headband with a image of a musical note on it. Yagi didn't recognize the village it represented.

"Don't bother struggling, you won't be able to break my strings. Why can't we ever fight high level people Sakon? We'll never level up at this rate."

"It's disappointing, but the world is full of trash. Let's hurry up and meet up with the others, perhaps there'll be someone more interesting ahead."

"I want to do it."

"Fine, you can kill him Kidomaru."

The six-armed ninja chewed for a moment, then reached into his mouth with every hand. They pulled away a golden substance that seemed to grow and stiffen until his was holding six spiked clubs. The two foreign ninjas had mentioned others. They were probably after his students. Yagi swore; he hadn't even left a water clone behind. He'd have to finish this quickly.

"Water Style: Third Arm Jutsu"

Without being able to form hand signs he vocalized the last part of the jutsu to help shape it. A tendril of water flowed from his back and wrapped around the hilt of Steam. A second one wrapped around his tanto. The water solidified into two more arms. The fire chakara he channeled into Steam erupted from its blade, and the webs were burned away at its touch. Sweeping his chakara blade around him Yagi was quickly freed.

Kidomaru had moved closer to him for his last attack. Yagi leapt at him, his four arms each wielding a weapon against his opponent's six. He however had Steam and the torrent swirling around. With the water chakara replacing the fire, his opponent's weapons wouldn't be able to withstand the incoming blow.

The two ninja collided. The Sound ninja had used five arms to intercept the overhead great sword swing, three of his clubs had cracked but the attack had been blocked. The tanto struck his neck and the two kunai that Yagi had drawn were stuck in his torso. The sixth club had been aimed at Yagi's chest. The two ninja stayed locked together for a moment. The same golden substance that made up Kidomaru's clubs now encased his body. Having come out of his pores, it blocked all three of Yagi's strikes. The spider like ninja's counter attack had been blocked by Yagi once again interposing his leg and his shin guard between his opponent and himself.

Kidomaru smirked as he left the gold armor fall off his face. His mouth swelled up as he prepared to shoot out a spear of his special substance into the Leaf shinobi's face. Yagi quit channeling water into his sword, switching it for fire. The resulting explosion of super-heated water vapor caught his opponent in the face.

Blinded by the steam, Kidomaru body flickered away. Yagi barely managed to bring his shin guard up in time to intercept Sakon's attack. "Multi-kick Barrage!" He could feel the metal of his armor crack under the force of the many limbed ninja's attack. Yagi was slammed against a tree and nearly fell over when he stood up and discovered that his leg had been broken also.

The six-armed ninja had vanished. The hump of the first ninja was now looking at him. Six arms on one and two heads on the other, he was dealing with advanced bloodlines. If he was going to get back to the children in time he needed to end this.

"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"

A sphere of water encased Yagi, just as dozens of small golden daggers flew out at him from all around. The spider ninja was still around, good. His final jutsu would be able to take them out, but only if they were in range. He began the hand signs with his two real hands while the water clone arm holding his tanto had dropped the weapon to maintain his protective jutsu.

"What? You're going to drown yourself? Don't you know that your opponents go on the inside of that technique?"

Sakon was amused. The Leaf ninja had managed to hurt Kidomaru, but he was now hiding in a sphere of water. Only trash would be desperate enough to resort to using an imprisoning technique on themselves to prolong their life for a paltry few moments.

"Your leg is broken; if you're waiting for help to come you're out of luck."

Sakon struck the water bubble with a multi-fist punch, but the prison didn't budge. His eyes grew wide as the trapped ninja finished his hand signs and the water began to boil.

"Fire Release: Boiling Cloud"

Sakon screamed as the steam washed over him. Kidomaru ducked behind the tree he was hiding behind. The cloud dissipated quickly and his gold armor protected him. Sakon hadn't been so lucky, but his screams stopped as he retreated into his brother Ukon to heal. There was a strange smell. The entire area that had been blasted by the steam cloud was now covered with a film of oil. Four kunai were embedded in trees around the clearing, a paper bomb burned at the end of each one. He barely had time to activate his cursed form before they exploded and ignited the oil and the forest.

Ukon had also activated his seal and assumed his cursed form as well. His body was already regenerating it's burned skin.

"I can't believe a worthless opponent would force us into these forms. Even with a suicide attack."

The Leaf ninja's body lay prone on the ground. It wasn't badly burnt, he had somehow shielded himself. The corpse however wasn't breathing and had no chakara in it. Ukon reached down and tore off his head just to be sure that it wasn't a clone, genjutsu, or a different body. Yagi was dead.

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><p>Nine woke up, it was important that he go outside. *My form is wrong.* The other children were walking outside with him. *My chakara is different, I'm under a genjutsu.* It was vitally important that he see what was outside. *Release!*<p>

Nine at the other four children were standing outside. There was someone with long red hair playing a flute. It's notes were creating a pathway for his chakara to enter him and his classmates. The ground beneath them moved and a dome of earth encased them.

"Seven, Eight wake up! You're in a genjutsu!"

All of his attempts to wake up his brothers failed. None of the children responded at all. Yelling and punching them wasn't working; they just continued to stand and listen to the music even though it was muted somewhat by the earthen jutsu that had encased them. Nine was feeling really tired. *My chakara is flowing out of me.* Nine slumped to his knees. Was his vision was giving out? It was hard to tell in the pitch black prison he had been trapped in. He heard the sound of his brothers falling over, seconds before he followed them.

It was dark, he was out of chakara but he could still send signals. He tried to get his eyes and ears working again. All he could see was his hand reaching out towards the prone form of Seven. He couldn't move his eyes, he couldn't adjust them to focus on anything but his hand. Seven wasn't breathing, he couldn't see any movement. Nine concentrated on his ears.

"...ot full yet. They didn't have hardly any chakara in them. Where are the adults? I bet they'd have more."

"Shut up fatty. This sickens me. They steal children away, teach them to be weak when Lord Orochimaru would've made them strong. It's disgusting."

The deep voiced one had moved closer. The high pitched one had remained far away.

"Don't call me fat Tayuya! You know our orders we have to keep those three from falling into anyone else's hands. How're we supposed to know who they are?"

"Jirobo you're a waste of flesh, which is saying something. Can't you think with that pathetic thing you call your brain? Try to snap their bones, that'll let us know."

"Fine, fine."

Nine heard a large person approaching him, then his vision shook.

"This one didn't break."

In the corner of his eye he could see the shadow of someone moving. There was a loud snap, followed by cursing. Another snap and more swearing came a few seconds later.

"What do we do if we only got one or two of them?"

"You dig up the area and look for bones, if we can't find them after that we look for another school. Idiot."

The shadow moved and there was a thump.

"Ah good that's two."

Then the shadow became an unfocused person standing above Seven. He put his foot above Seven's head. Nine wanted to scream, he wanted to stop the large ninja from hurting his brother. He knew Seven was probably already dead, but he might still be alive, and he didn't want to see his brother's body mutilated. His eyes wouldn't shut, he couldn't stop looking at his own hand. His hand that was powerless to stop his brother from being killed in front of him. The foot came down on Seven's head with a loud thump.

"This one didn't break either. That's three!"

"Good. Let's leave. I don't like it here. Leave the incineration paper bombs to destroy their bodies and let's get out of here."

The high pitched voice was already moving away as it spoke. The large person with the deep voice moved out of Nine's vision. Then Nine was all alone. Looking at his dead brother, unable to close his eyes or even cry.


	6. Chapter 5: Escape From the Mist

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Yagi could still sense the two opposing ninjas. His best technique hadn't worked. In fact, somehow their chakara had grown so that it was more than ten times what it was previously. It had also gained a dark, evil feeling to it. Moving now would just reveal himself and get him killed. There was nothing he could do to stop them, or to protect his students.<p>

The last briefing Danzo had given him kept replaying in his mind. It reminded him of his purpose, even now without a body he was Root. The first part of his mission had succeeded, Stoic had a visible bloodline trait and had finished the emotional training in 3 years. More re-enforcement would normally be required, but the second part of the mission required a boy young enough to be an academy student. In two month's time Yagi would've taken the orphans back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. After their indoctrination into Root he and Stoic would've traveled to the Land of Water for Yagi's final part of the mission.

Around an hour after the two gigantic chakaras had left - it was hard to keep track of time in his current state. A small stream of water emerged from Steam. It grew until it was human sized and then it took on the shape of Yagi. Possessing his own water clone Yagi looked around, only to find his headless body lying on the ground at his feet. His mind transfer jutsu had prolonged his life, but he wasn't a Yamanaka. Yagi was still a novice at moving his consciousness. For him the technique was limited to possessing his own chakara: his clones and Steam. The water armor he had placed around his body before he launched the oil and steam explosion had protected it for the most part. If things had gone as planned he could've repaired and restarted his body by infusing his chakara back in, but healing decapitation was impossible. He wasn't a skilled enough medic to attach his head, even if he could find it. Lady Tsunade or Orochimaru might be able to have pulled of such a feat, and Yagi was nowhere near the level of the legendary sanin.

Without a body he couldn't replenish his chakara. He might be able to maintain this clone for a few days, but after that he would really be dead. If he left Steam at the cabin along with a note he might be able to last for a few months, but he doubted his mind could last that long with out any outside simulation. His chakara would drain from his sword even if he didn't use it to power a jutsu. He needed to access the situation. There was no chance that anyone had survived, but there were things he could still do with what remained of his life.

Approaching the orphanage, he saw the bodies of four boys outside. Two of them were piles of ash. The other two were just charred bones. There was one body that might be intact. Yagi strained to sense any chakara, one of the children might have survived. There was one other presence. It was very faint and was coming from the unburnt body. Yagi moved toward the body - it was Stoic. The boy was burnt, unconscious, and almost out of chakara, but he was alive.

* * *

><p>Nine knew that they had put something on him and his classmate's bodies. The high pitched voice seemed eager to leave so he might have a chance. There was chakara stored in his skeleton. He pushed his spinal column up, when it breached his skin he had it spread out. Trying to unblock some very selective signals that were coming from the exposed part of his skeleton, he was able to feel a piece of paper touching him. Just as he saw the flames erupted from Seven's back the paper on his back began to burn. The signals from his skeleton were intense. If his vocal chords were working he was sure he'd be screaming. Nine focused he chakara on his back. It was like water walking, or the bubble that surrounded him when he body flickered. The thin chakara barrier was protecting him, but it wasn't enough. Signals sent to his now chakara enhanced back became electricity. The pain was less. Nine focused on the exposed metal, each cell of it he encased in lightening. The flame couldn't touch him. The paper that was trying to incinerate him slid off his back.<p>

It took all the energy he had left to restore enough chakara to his body to get his systems working again. He was cold and alone, but he was breathing. Sleep overtook him as he tried to gather his chakara and think of what he could do now.

He awoke in bed under every blanket in the house next to a fire with a bowl of soup next to him. Yagi looked up from a scroll he was writing on.

"Good. You're awake. Eat, we need to leave now. You can rest on the boat."

"What's going on? What happened? Who were those people? Did..anyone else survive?"

"They were foreign ninja. One of them had a headband with a musical note on it. That's all I know. They ambushed us in the night. You were the only survivor. I'm a water clone of Yagi; the real Yagi was killed in the woods. I don't have enough time remaining to get you to Root headquarters. Neither of us would survive the trip in our current conditions. You also wouldn't know how to find the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Then what do we do?"

"We proceed with the mission. I can rest in my sword to prolong how much time I have left. There's a town less than a day's walk from here. We can rent a boat there to take us to the Land of Water. There we'll fulfill the mission. I should have enough time to do that. You'll be on your own after I'm gone. You'll have to get to the Land of Fire on your own and hope that the Hidden Leaf finds you before the Hidden Mist."

Nine blocked all the emotional signals to and from his brain. He'd grieve for Seven and Eight on the boat, but right now they had to leave. Those enemy ninja could show up again at any time.

* * *

><p>It took them the rest of the day to get to the small fishing village. Yagi had the nameless boy sleep in the woods. They couldn't take the chance of someone remembering him. With instructions to channel chakara into him in the morning the water clone of Yagi dissipated. Yagi didn't trust his sense of time confined inside the sword, the chakara would get his attention. If he could only absorb it to increase his own supply... but that was a ability that wasn't exactly common.<p>

The next morning the chakara flow came and he formed himself a new body. Leaving his surviving student behind, he went into town under a simple transformation. Securing travel to the Land of Water was easy enough. Once there they would go from one island to the next. A direct route could attract too much attention. Yagi left a coded scroll with the Anbu informant in the town. Leaving writing of any kind was a huge risk, but Danzo would have to know what had happened.

Island to island they traveled like this. The time passed quickly for Yagi. He would book passage. then the new Root member would take his place and travel on the boat. This way he was able to last the entire journey without spending too much chakara. Thankfully the Village Hidden in the Mist was on the largest island in the Land of Water. The area around the village itself would be impossible to sneak into, but the island boasted many traders and some very active ports. The surrounding countryside had many small families, some of which would have sons and daughters enrolled in the Mist ninja academy. Yagi would only spend one day searching for a boy with the right appearance, that lived at home outside the village, and who went to the academy. He would need to be lucky, but at least he didn't have to match any unusual hair or eye colors that bloodline users commonly had. With the banishing of such things from the Land of Water, virtually everyone he encountered would have the black hair and brown eyes he needed. Other similarities, while nice, weren't needed. Time and his ward's growth would soon erase any minor distinctions between him and whichever boy he was going to be taking the identity of.

By noon he had found an acceptable family. Two sons and one daughter, single father. One son in the academy, but came home to help around the house and in the fields. Blaming the bloodline on the dead mother would work nicely. Stoic would even have to fake siblings to replace his "brothers", if only for a short time. The mission could proceed, he had one day left.

* * *

><p>Nine, had a lot of time on his own. With Yagi sleeping in his sword and being confined in different small rooms on the boats, he was alone for the first time he could remember. He felt miserable. Seven and Eight, his brothers were dead. He'd never see them again. No one would ever call him "Nine", soon he would have a new name and be running for his life in a mad escape from experienced hunter ninjas. The grief and frustration at his situation was too much. He cried and cried during the long boat voyages. Strangely, without any of his signal blocking, he felt better after crying. He held onto the days that he was alone on the ship as precious time that he could spend remembering his family. Yagi would never have let him breakdown like this if he were around, and there wouldn't be time to indulge in his grief or self-pity when he was on the run.<p>

* * *

><p>Yasuoka was patrolling the areas around the Hidden Mist village. The hunter-nin always found it boring, but did his daily patrols as instructed. As he walked over the rise he saw a crowd of people around the Ichikawa house. There were angry shouts and he could see several torches. Yasuoka dashed over while memorizing the faces of all the people and trying to figure out what was going on.<p>

"Stop! What's going on here?"

"The Ichikawas have a kekkei genkai! They've been hiding it all these years, we came to drive them out!" An overweight man had stepped out of the crowd, apparently it's ringleader.

"We took care of the father, daughter, and younger son, but the older boy - Nitane wasn't here. He was the one who has it! Metal coming out of his hands!"

Yasuoka was curious. He didn't know Nitane or any of the Ichikawas accept their father Futane. "How do you know this? Who saw the boy, why didn't you report it to the village immediately?"

"A hunter-nin was asking questions. He wanted to know if any of us had seen Nitane. He wasn't going to do anything about his family, so we did!"

Yasuoka didn't like this. A bloodline user so close to the village. The Mizukage would need to be informed immediately. There would be a sweep of the area. Nitane would be found.

* * *

><p>Yagi's plan was going off without a hitch. The real Nitane was dead. Yagi had killed him earlier that morning. Dressed as a hunter-nin, the civilians afforded him every respect. A real member of the Mist's black ops would be able to see though his deception in multiple ways, so he had to avoid them. A few leading questions with the loud boisterous inn owner - that he was looking for Nitane because he had been reported as having a forbidden kekkei genkai worked wonders. Yagi had used a very subtle genjutsu to infuriate the fat man even more. He used a very sparse amount of chakara so that it would be completely out of the man's system long before he had any encounter with a ninja.<p>

Yagi made sure the mob did indeed finish off the Ichikawas. A hunter-nin appeared to question the civilians in fairly short order. Stoic, or the new Nitane would have gotten on a boat in the main harbor by now. Yagi had told him to be sure to keep his hands covered. There was no way Nitane would've been able to get to the harbor by now so the Mist search party would miss him. The time it took for the ship to get back to the port would provide Nitane with the head start he needed.

The only loose ends were Yagi himself and Nitane's body. Fortunately, they wouldn't be a problem.

The Mist ninjas were heading towards the Ichikawa residence. They weren't trying to be stealthy. With orders from the Mizukage, speed was now the priority. Yagi couldn't use any ninja tools without revealing his true nature. Fire jutsus required far too much chakara also. He would have to engage them in melee combat.

The patrol saw the puddle in the middle of the road. It was an obvious trap to a Mist ninja. Water could be used to conceal any number of things from exploding paper tags to enemy ninja. Their leader motioned to surround the suspicious water. Yagi threw Steam from the puddle far off the road that he was hiding in. The other ninja narrowly avoided the flying great sword which wound up lodged in the ground. A burst of mist from steam provided the cover Yagi needed to reform his water clone.

"Who are you? Identify yourself!"

Yagi was wearing a hunter-nin mask. It was a fake that he had formed along with his clone. He had also chosen to make his outward appearance that of one of the ninjas surrounding him. Powering Steam's blows with water he struck from the middle of the Mist ninjas. They fought back and several sword cuts and thrown projectiles made it past Yagi's guard.

Water clones tend to be easily disrupted by any amount of damage. It's a weakness shared among most clone techniques. The water doesn't dissipate, the chakara binding it loses it's shape. Since Yagi was concentrating solely on maintaining his jutsu, he was able to repair the bindings as quickly as they were damaged. Every time he was slashed some water flew away instead of blood. The enemy ninja quickly scattered.

"Water Style - Liquid Bullets"

"Water Style - Binding Grasp"

"Water Style - Water Dragon"

The bullets caused several small holes, but the damage was easy to repair. Tentacles of water tried to grab him. Yagi's body was water though, momentarily destabilizing his form allowed him to escape. The gigantic dragon made of water that was crashing down on him was another matter. He couldn't survive such an attack, but Steam could. His water clone died from the dragon's attack, but he formed another hidden by the spray of water that covered him.

"Water Style - Hiding in the Mist"

This was the opportunity Yagi was waiting for. His opponents must've trained in fighting in these conditions, but could they track him with the mist around them? Yagi fled. There was a small house up ahead where he planned to make his final stand. The mist followed him. Another ninja might have had a difficult time finding his way, but Yagi was at home in in the pure white world with no sound. He closed and barred the single door behind him. Nitane's body was stored in the house, ready to take Yagi's place since he couldn't leave a body of his own behind. He shoved Steam into the ground and released his water clone for the last time.

Several chakaras were approaching. One of them was at one of the windowless walls, preparing to enter in an impressive fashion. The Root teacher released all his remaining chakara from Steam in the flames that his sword channeled so very well. His fire spread, then Yagi pulled it back into Steam. Over and over again he pulsed out burning everything around him, and then he pulled the flames back inside. His chakara was mingling with the natural energy of the flame. He was unable to sense anything around him. He might have caught a Mist ninja, but whether he did or not wasn't the point. Soon he would lose control and the fires would be released in one final inferno. Yagi's last thoughts were of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The village he had done horrible things for. The village he had died for. He was Root; he supported the village from the darkness. That was his sole purpose, and it was enough.

* * *

><p>Yasuoka was assigned to track down the runaway Nitane Ichikawa. The village was uneasy with the recent events. A bloodline had shown up again, an unknown ninja had attacked the search party. When he was defeated he self-immolated leaving behind a nice sword, a pile of bone and ash, and more questions. The delay had cost the search party dearly. For a week there had been no sign of Nitane on the island. Today a merchant ship had just returned from a nearby island with an interesting story. They had taken on a young boy, matching Nitane's age and appearance the day the elder Ichikawa boy had vanished. This particular young boy seemed to go through great lengths to cover his hands.<p>

The port was a good 5 hours travel from his house though. How the young ninja in training had managed to evade the mob, experienced hunter-nins and make such good time was a mystery. Yasuoka had requested the assignment to track the missing ninja down. All of this had happened on his watch, plus it beat patrol duty.

For weeks he tracked the child's movement from island to island. It wasn't easy to find all the boats that he had traveled on, but Yasuoka was catching up. He got to the last port only two days after Nitane had booked passage on a ship heading to the Land of Fire. He wasn't a missing nin technically since he hadn't graduated, but the Land of Fire was a large country and Nitane wouldn't know where to go. Once the two of them were off the ships he'd be able to catch up in no time.

* * *

><p>Nine, or Nitane Ichikawa as he was now known had been traveling along the road for 3 days now. Yagi had him book passage on a boat two days after they had arrived at the island with the Village Hidden in the Mist. His former sensei had assured him that he was going to be pursued, but he would have a good head start until he quit traveling by boat. He had gone through the forest when he had first landed, prioritizing speed above everything else. After two days he had gone into a village to buy supplies. Nitane could forage or hunt for food, but that would take time. It was best to walk in and out of the village, he could go back to the trees when he was out of sight.<p>

There was a small noise to his left. He heard a sound he was all to familiar with - that of something flying through the air very quickly and headed toward him. Nitane spun, drew a kunai and knocked away the shuriken headed at his head. A masked man appeared behind the young runaway. Unlike Anbu or Root masks which were a stylized rendering of an animal, the mask worn by this ninja had the four diagonal wavy lines on its forehead that denoted a ninja from the Hidden Mist. The rest of the mask was plain except for a red line that ran underneath the two narrow eyes.

Nitane raised his arms to block, but a swift kick from the masked ninja sent him sprawling to the feet of an identical ninja.

"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"

A sphere of water had formed around the young boy. The water pressed against him from all sides holding him tight. Nine wondered how long he could hold his breath since the hunter-nin seemed content to let him drown. Even if his body was immobilized, his skeleton wasn't. Pushing through the flesh on his hands his bones broke the surface, giving him the now familiar five gray lines the back of his fingers meeting at a band at his wrist and with nodes on his joints. Channeling lightening chakara while trapped in water didn't seem like a good idea, but with his opponent keeping on hand in the sphere to maintain the prison it was the best shot he could think of.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

A green blur appeared at the side of his jailer. It quickly spun landing kick after kick against the Mist ninja. Nitane fell to the ground as both his prison and it's creator collapsed into puddles of water.

"Dynamic Entry!"

A second green blur appeared where the other water ninja had been standing. Yasuoka was now prone in the road several meters back.

"You were right Guy sensei! A lone boy moving through the trees like a ninja, but without a headband was suspicious!"

"Of course Lee! Didn't I tell you we were bound to encounter something special on your first C-rank mission?"

The person who had saved him was dressed in a green jumpsuit, with orange legwarmers and a metal Leaf forehead protector on a red cloth around his waist like a belt. Bandages were wrapped around the newcomer's forearms and his hair was black, shiny, and looked like someone had placed a bowl on his head and cut away everything that stuck out. His large eyes under incredibly thick eyebrows looked over Nitane towards the person that must by 'Guy sensei'.

Guy sensei looked like a larger version of Lee. He didn't have any bandages on his arms, and he wore an unzipped green flak jacket. Otherwise the two of them were identical, down to the haircut and bushy eyebrows. Guy was giving Lee a thumbs up and had a smile showing off incredibly white teeth.

"Don't interfere. This is a missing ninja from the Land of Water. My mission is to track him down, I am guaranteed safe passage for such a task." Yasuoka stood up. What had hit him?

"This boy is a ninja? He couldn't be more than 9 years old. I wasn't aware that the Hidden Mist were letting such young boys become genin again."

"He's not a genin, but he was a student at the academy."

"Then you know that until a student gets a headband they aren't a ninja or an adult. If you really want the child so much you'll have to get past Konoha's Green Beast. I will not allow you to extinguish the fires of youth!"

Off to the side, Lee cheered his awesome sensei on.

Yasuoka looked at the Leaf jonin. So this was the Hidden Leaf's Green Beast. It didn't seem like a bluff, and he was going to fight for the child, that much was obvious. He couldn't win that fight, and he didn't have a secure diplomatic stance to fall back on. He'd taken too long; his target had escaped. The hunter-nin took one last look at the Ichikawa who had gotten away from him, and then turned and left.

"Lee, lets head back and find Tenten and Neji. Our new friend here looks worn out, I'm sure he could do with a good meal and a warm fire."

"Yosh, Guy sensei!"

* * *

><p>Nitane was sitting by a fire, eating a roasted fish. His saviors had been joined by a boy with pure white eyes, and a cute girl with her black hair tied up in two buns. He had unblocked all his signals - not showing any emotions probably wouldn't be good in his current situation. At first Nitane had thought they had put a genjutsu on him. His heart rate was increased and all sorts of strange signals were going through his body. Some intensive chakara searching later Nitane concluded that these were natural responses of his body to something. Tenten, the young kunochi, brought him some rice and all Nitane could do was blush. He had found the source of his current situation. He hadn't really seen a female before. All the ships he had recently lived on had all male crews, and the time he spent on land he was either looking to hire passage on another boat or running.<p>

Guy laughed and said something about fire and youth. Nitane blushed some more out of embarrassment and decided that weakening a few signals was probably ok. Tenten wasn't paying much attention to him thankfully. She was preparing some food for Neji to eat when his turn at watch was over. After he was done with dinner, the Green Beast motioned for Nitane to walk with him.

"So what's your name son?"

"'Nine'...well, my name is Nitane Ichikawa, but my brothers, uhm siblings called me 'Nine'." That wasn't part of the story he had planned, but the question had been so straightforward and simple he had forgotten himself. His name was very important to him, and he had spent a long time thinking about what his name really was.

"Oh? That's an interesting name, I bet there's a story behind it."

"Well, when my brother and sister and I went to school one day the teacher lined us all up and called us by numbers since he couldn't remember our names. 'Nine' was too close to my real name, so it became my nickname. I started calling my sister 'Eight' and brother 'Seven' for revenge, and all the names took."

"I'm sorry, it seems like a tender subject. You don't have to talk about it if you'd rather not."

"Really?"

"Of course! However, if you do want to talk, I'll listen."

Guy had turned to him, and had given him a thumbs up while flashing that brilliant smile again. Nine felt touched that someone would want to listen to him. A stranger no less. The thumbs up and smile were comforting too somehow.

"Well, a few weeks ago my family was killed. They came because they thought that we had a bloodline ability. We had just come out of the house when they trapped us. They formed a sphere around us, and we all felt week and tired. Seven and Eight collapsed, and then so did I. It was like they were draining our chakara. I..I couldn't close my eyes, I couldn't move a single muscle. So I couldn't look away when they...crushed Seven's head." *Sob*

With the signals unblocked, the tears just came out when he thought about the last time he had seen Seven. Somehow it felt good to tell someone. Yagi hadn't even asked what had happened. He probably knew somehow, but sharing what was his most private memory made it less painful.

"I was stronger than Seven or Eight. I had m-more c-chakara than them. So when they were about to burn us...I substituted away. I can do it without any hand signs now. I made my way to the water and escaped."

Guy let him finish talking. When Nine looked up, he could see tears in the man's eyes. Guy then gave him a hug. The first hug Nine could remember. Guy wasn't crying but he could feel him trembling. Suddenly Guy held pushed him back, but he still held Nine by his shoulders. Looking directly into his eyes (under those thick, thick eyebrows) the young boy could almost see flames.

"I'm touched! To go through so much at such a young age! The flames of youth burn bright! You must have passion to overcome your trials! What is your passion? What drives you! Tell me!"

Looking into the green clad ninja's eyes, Nine couldn't help but respond to the passion and emotion that had been shown him.

"I..I...I don't want to lose anyone again!"

"Good! Keep that flame of youth burning bright! Let your passion for protecting those around you drive you forward! Let's race back to camp. The loser has to do five hundred push-ups, the winner has to one thousand."

"What?"

* * *

><p>Neji was relieved. They had finally had something happen on their first C rank mission just like Guy sensei and promised Lee. The mission had gone off with out incident. The merchant had been escorted though an area where there were rumors of bandits accosting travelers. Perhaps there were really no bandits, or perhaps they weren't foolish to attack what was obviously an extremely well defended caravan. The mission was done and they were supposed to return to the village.<p>

Only Might Guy had decided they were going to take a rather unorthodox route. For a week they had zigzagged their way back to the Hidden Leaf. Neji was sure they were actually father away from the village now than when they had finished their mission. Every day Guy and Lee patrolled around their camp that they made after only half a day of travel. The Hyuga prodigy was sure Guy wouldn't have given up until he had made their first C rank mission just as exciting as he had promised.

"Byakugan"

Neji didn't vocalize the activation of his clan's bloodline ability, but he always though the name of it whether he said it out loud or not. He was only 30 yards from camp. The Mist boy was clearly visible to him as he looked through the trees. He possessed a strong chakara network. He had definitely had training as a ninja. His chakara flow was all wrong though. All his chakara points were feeding into his skeleton, which Neji could see. His bones possessed a very large concentrated amount of energy. Guy was right; whoever this boy was he was bound to make their C rank mission interesting.

* * *

><p>It took them another week to make it back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. By the time they arrived Nine had grown quite fond of Might Guy and his apprentice Rock Lee. They had more emotion, more feeling than his entire class did. They didn't try and hide it either, instead it drove them. It was touching that they included him in their training schedule at first, but it quickly dawned on Nine that these two had one or two hundred times his stamina. They would spend hours doing pushups or kicking trees even after a day of almost sprinting. Nine was glad that he wasn't the only one who couldn't keep pace with the green pair. The silent Neji and the easy-going Tenten trained with them after a day's run, but only for a short while.<p>

Seven and Eight would've loved Might and Lee, even if Eight wouldn't admit it. Thinking about his brothers always made Nine melancholy and guilty that he had survived and was having fun while Seven and Eight would never get to experience anything ever again. Somehow Guy sensei always managed to appear by his side when he began to feel this way. A short speech about the fires of youth and some physical exercise always cheered him up. If Nine wasn't absolutely confident in his capacity to sense any outside influences that were used on his body he would've suspected that Might Guy was a genjutsu genius. By the time they did arrive at the village, Nine was questioning the wisdom of Root's emotional policy. The passion of youth seemed like such a nice philosophy.

Once inside the village, Might Guy dismissed his team for the day and took Nine with him to report to the Hokage. A pair of Anbu guarded him as he waited in a side room. Did Root know who he was? Would the Hokage let him stay? A lot of effort had gone into getting him to this point, so whoever was pulling the string must have some use for him. It wouldn't make sense for them to throw him out now. He still worried about it, and he still didn't want to limit his body's signals. They must be observing him right now, and any strange behavior like not being nervous would doubtless get him in more trouble.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only thirty minutes Nine was brought into the Hokage's office. Seated behind a desk was a old man with a pointed beard and small black eyes. Hiruzen Sarutobi wore a wide conical hat with the symbol for 'Fire' on it. The hat had cloth that hung down from it onto his shoulders and back. Might Guy stood on his left and a man with short black hair with bandages wrapped around his head which completely covered his right eye stood to his right.

"I'm to understand you have fled from the Land of Water after having your bloodline ability awaken. Might Guy informed me that a hunter-nin was after you when the two of you met. Normally we would be pressured by the Village Hidden in the Mist and the Mizukage to turn over any missing ninjas we found, but since you had yet to graduate and become a ninja we may be able to help you. If you would like to join our village you may do so."

The Hokage glanced over to the one-eyed man to his right.

"If you want to become a Leaf shinobi we would accept you into our academy. If you wish to leave we will not stop you."

"Sir, I would like to stay in this village and I would like to be a ninja."

"Hmmmm... If you join the academy you will be a ninja of the Land of Fire. Your old ties will be broken. Are you ok with that."

"There's nothing for me in the Land of Water sir."

"Yes. Since you have no clan or family we will see about finding you a place to live and a small allowance. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Now could you do one last thing for me? I would like to examine your bloodline ability."

Nine nodded and pushed his bones out his hands again. At the Hokage's motion, he approached and let the old man examine his hands.

"Guy, would you show our young friend around town while I see to finding him a new home."

"Of course Hokage!"

After Nine and Guy left Sarutobi turned to Danzo.

"His bloodline looks impressive. I wonder if he will truly become a part of the Hidden Leaf."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we will be able to convince him to stay. He's been through a lot, but with the right people to open up to he'll be a loyal Leaf ninja. The Anbu should keep an eye on him. He could be a spy, but I think the potential benefit of adding his kekkei genkai to the village is to good to pass up."

* * *

><p>The apartment that the Hokage had arranged for Nine was on the cheap side. There wasn't much money for a young boy from another land available in the villages budget. Guy sensei bought him dinner and promised to check in on him again when they were back after their next mission. Nine would miss the thumbs up and smile. The school year at the ninja academy had already started so he would be attending starting tomorrow. All in all, it was a pretty good day Nine thought.<p>

Nine went back in his apartment. He was about to go to sleep on the bed roll that Guy left him, when two men wearing animal masks came into his room through the window. The didn't try and hide their presence, but they still didn't make any sound.

"Come with us."

Nine nodded. These must be members of Root. Nine blocked off all his emotional signals and followed the men outside. They moved silently through the city for a time, then stopped.

"You will be bound before proceeding."

Nine nodded again. The two Root ninja quickly tied his hands and feet. Then they blindfolded him and wrapped something around his ears. He was left un-gagged; perhaps as a test or they might trust him not to yell out. After being carried for a while Nine was gently placed down and his binding removed. Before him in a chair sat the one-eyed man that was with the Hokage earlier.

"My name is Danzo. This is Root. Tell me what happened."

* * *

><p>Danzo opened his right eye. Under the bandages no one could see his mangekyo sharingan. The kotoamatsukami it possessed granted him the ability to implant an idea in another person's mind. It wasn't like other genjutsus, it didn't affect a person's chakara. They would think the thought came from their own mind and they would incorporate it. No one could detect it. If presented with proof, someone might be able to reconsider his previous stance, but otherwise the technique was without any weaknesses now that he had obtained the ability to use it more than once every ten years.<p>

It was this jutsu that would allow him to have children in Root before the years of emotional training had forged them into the tools the village needed. This child had the basic training already. Now all that was left was to bind him to Root and move on to the third phase of the mission.

* * *

><p>Nine looked at Danzo. He should trust him. *Something's wrong.* This was the man who was the leader of Root, and Nine was a tool of Root. He should trust him. *My chakara is normal, my vitals are normal, but those thoughts, the signals producing them are wrong.* If he trusted Danzo then he was sure... Nine didn't know what was happening, so he fell back on his emergency measure of shutting his brain off. Danzo was looking at him expectantly.<p>

Nine bowed and began to relate what had happened to Yagi and the rest of the students. Danzo quizzed him on his abilities and how his training had gone. When Nine was finished Danzo nodded.

"Yes, you did well to make it here. Approach me, you must first be given a seal so that you cannot tell anyone about me or Root. It will prevent you from talking even if captured and tortured."

Nine complied with the leader of Root. Danzo made several hand signs and then placed his hand on Nine's head. The one-eyed man's chakara flowed into Nine. It settled around his tongue and seemed to shape itself in a way that chakara shouldn't be able to do.

"Now for your mission. There is a particular student in the academy. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. He will be turning 12 this year so he's your senior. He will fail his ninja exam though. Your one mission is to make sure you pass your examination the same year he does. Monitor his progress and if he seems like he will pass next year you will do so as well. If he fails then you will fail also. That is all."

Nine was confused. He had been rescued from the bad place. He had been subjected to rigorous training. He had watched his brothers die. It was all just to have him become a genin in the same class as one boy? It made no sense, how could Naruto Uzumaki be important enough to spend so much time and effort on having a member of Root be in the same class as him? While Nine's mind was over-loaded with questions he still managed to say 'Hai' and bow.

The newest member of Root was escorted outside, this time under his own power. As Nine made his way home he flooded chakara back into his brain. The foreign signal was still there. Nine couldn't block it without blocking his own brain, and if he let it continue his thoughts would be corrupted by it. Focusing his chakara once again, he reconnected with his brain and released the strongest chakara powered signal he could. *DANZO CAN NOT BE TRUSTED* The strength of his own signal overloaded his brain. When it regained consciousness, the intrusive signal was nowhere to be found. Instead the signal that he had just sent out repeatedly played in his mind over and over. He had managed to manipulate himself. Danzo had tried to control him and he had resisted, but he was compromised anyway. Even without his counter-signal dominating his thoughts Nine didn't think he would trust the leader of Root. Part of him could see the rational behind the invasive chakara seal and even the genjutsu, but he would never accept it.

Nine did not trust Danzo. He had thought that the emotional training had been important. It still might be, if Seven and Eight were alive he would hate for one of his actions to generate enough hatred in another person that they hurt his brothers. Of course, it would be better if their enemies had emotional training rather than themselves... Nine held his sanctity of self as his highest pride and virtue. That Danzo would try to...infringe upon that was unforgivable. The chakara that wasn't his own and was resting on his tongue was infuriating also, but not as much as trying to violate his mind.

Nine was angry. Perhaps the reason Danzo forced emotion out of his subordinates was so they wouldn't betray him for the atrocities he committed against them. Who could he tell? He only knew Might Guy, but even if he did say something - the seal would prevent it, and he was a kid who had just arrived in the village. No one would give his words weight. On the other hand, he was in a village that had produced Rock Lee and Might Guy, who knows how many other wonderful people there were here. He wished Seven and Eight had been able to experience this place.

Danzo couldn't be trusted, but Root still might have a purpose. He wanted to protect the village, Root might be the best place to do that from. His skeleton could repair his body. Could it regrow his tongue? Could he perhaps be free of chakara that was contaminating his form? Nine had several new problems he had to consider.

* * *

><p>The next day Nine stood in front of a class room full of children. Fukumoto sensei had met him before class. He was to stay after school so his skills could be tested. Nine wanted to make a good impression on his new teacher and classmates. He waited nervously in the hallway for the teacher to tell him to enter.<p>

"Good morning class. Today we're being joined by a new student. Please help him feel at home."

Nine walked out. The faces of two dozen other children looked at him. Would Naruto Uzumaki, the boy he was supposed to graduate with be in this class. Nine supposed he would find out soon enough. He bowed before the classroom.

"Hello, I'm pleased to be here with everyone. My name is Nitane Ichikawa, but please call me 'Nine'."


End file.
